Imperfect Perfection
by Emmie0928
Summary: Andromeda Black has always considered Ted Tonks to be a muggleborn Hufflepuff of no importance. Ted has always considered Andromeda to be a stuck-up, spoiled brat. Then one summer they are thrown together and both their worlds are turned upside down forever.
1. Chapter 1

Ted Tonks had always thought that you could tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands. Excessive ink stains could mean that a person spent a lot of time writing. Paint or clay underneath a person's fingernails could mean that they were an artist. Rough calluses and dirty fingernails could mean that a person spent a lot of time doing manual labor. Ted's hands were often the latter. He had grown up on a farm and hard work was second nature to him. He had never known anything different.

Andromeda Black, on the other hand, had perfect hands. They were soft and pale, with carefully manicured nails all painted a light pink color. They were the hands of someone who had never had to work for anything a day in her life, who had had everything handed to her on a silver platter since birth.

"Ted Tonks was staring at you again," India Selwyn told Andromeda, as the two girls walked out of the Potions classroom. "I wish that idiot mudblood would get over his obsession with you. He's a Hufflepuff, for Merlin's sake. He should just crawl back under whatever rock he came from and leave you alone."

"Relax," said Andromeda, tossing her long, chestnut curls over her shoulder. "He doesn't even bother me anymore. I've learned to ignore him."

Neither girl seemed to notice, or perhaps they just didn't care, that Ted Tonks had come out of the classroom right behind them and could hear every word they were saying. He rolled his eyes and turned a corner as they two Slytherin girls in front of him continued walking straight. He couldn't imagine-couldn't even begin to comprehend-how someone could be as self-centered as those two girls were. The fact that Andromeda Black believed that he was obsessed with her was laughable. He couldn't imagine having an ego so inflated that you believed anyone who looked at you for longer than five seconds had some sort of creepy obsession with you. He couldn't deny that he sometimes did look at her. She was stunning, after all. Practically every guy in the school had stared at her at some point or another.

There was also something about her that intrigued him. He couldn't help but think that she was a little different than her other pure-blood friends. She was self-involved, for sure. And she tended to stick up her nose at people she considered beneath her, people like him. But Ted had never heard her call someone a "mudblood", even though all her friends tossed the word around like it was a quaffle. He had never seen her seek out a confrontation with someone she didn't like. She was definitely the nicest and most bearable out of her three sisters. She was nowhere near as cruel Bellatrix, nor did she share her love for Lord Voldemort. And while she was certainly self-centered, she was not anywhere close to the level of Narcissa, who had been known to throw very loud, very public fits when she didn't get her way.

* * *

"India," said Andromeda. "Tell your brother to leave me alone. I'm trying to study."

"Radulf," India commanded. "You heard the girl. Go away. You two can snog each other's faces off after we finish studying for this Potions exam."

Radulf flashed a grin at his twin sister and gave Andromeda a kiss on the cheek before standing up. "I finished studying for that exam ages ago," he said, as he turned to leave.

"Well, we can't all be as smart as you, Radulf," his sister called after his retreating figure. She was lying, of course. Everyone knew that the only person who was as smart as Radulf Selwyn was his twin sister.

India and Radulf Selwyn shared the same ink-black hair, piercing green eyes, and sharp intellect. They came from a wealthy pure-blood family who were known supporters of Lord Voldemort. They were very proud people. Fiercely loyal to those they loved. And terribly cruel to those they hated.

Sometimes even Andromeda found herself a little put off by the remarks they would make about muggleborns and blood purity. But she never said anything because Radulf was her boyfriend and India was her best friend and she loved them both.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed another one of Andromeda's friends, a petite blonde named Adelaide, or Adee for short. "I think my brain's gonna explode."

"I'm surprised it hasn't already," muttered Tara, the fourth and final Slytherin girl in their year. She was constantly being mistaken for a Weasley because of her bright red hair, a fact that she was very, very bitter about. Andromeda had seen many a poor fool hexed into oblivion for simply asking, "Aren't you a Weasley?"

Adee pouted.

Andromeda, always the peacemaker, closed her textbook and smiled brightly. "Let's go upstairs. I've had enough studying for one night. I'm ready for some girl time."

Adee's face immediately brightened. "Gossip!" she squealed, clapping her hands.

The four friends headed upstairs and sat on India's bed.

"Alright," said Tara, hugging her knees to her chest looking around. "Who's first?"

"Me, me, me," said Adee, bouncing up and down.

They all looked at her expectedly.

"Guess who asked me out today!"

"Who?" they all chorused in unison.

"Darby Highmore!"

"Didn't you already sleep with him last year?" asked Tara, examining her fiery locks for split ends.

Adee frowned. "No." She paused, her face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't...I don't think so."

"I can't keep track," said Tara. "I'm not surprised you can't either."

Adee's lip quivered and Andromeda knew it was time to change the subject. "I'm thinking of sleeping with Radulf...over the summer, I mean."

India groaned. "Is that why you're spending the summer at our house? For him, not for me?"

"I'm spending the summer at your house so that I don't have to spend it in southern France with my parents. Our house there is much too small. I'd never have any time to myself."

"You're finally going to lose your virginity!" squealed Adee. "Now you won't be the only one who hasn't!"

"I wish I was still a virgin," Tara mumbled. "Dave Hedgecomb turned out to be a huge mistake."

"Yeah, he's completely awful in bed," said Adee.

Tara's nose wrinkled. "When did you shag him?"

Adee shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Tara shook her head. "You are a piece of work, Adelaide."

"You love me," said Adee.

"Indeed. I must be mental, but I do."

Andromeda smiled, watching as the usually stone-cold Tara let her guard down.

"Everyone, off my bed!" India commanded. "I need my beauty sleep."

* * *

Ted Tonks heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sob coming from an empty classroom as he headed to the Great Hall for dinner a few weeks later. He paused for a minute before stepping inside. To his surprise, Andromeda Black was huddled in a dark corner, her face buried in her hands. She looked up when she heard him come in and her eyes narrowed.

"What the hell do you want, Tonks?" she snarled.

She looked perfect, Ted noticed, even crying her eyes out. Her makeup wasn't even smudged.

"I heard someone crying and I wanted to see if they were alright," he replied. "It's what nice people do."

"Well, I'm not alright," she said. "I am absolutely, positively as far from alright as I could possibly be."

Ted was surprised that she was actually talking to him. With those few sentences, she had said more to him than she had in the entire rest of the six years they had gone to school together combined.

"What happened?" he asked warily.

"Radulf broke up with me!" she exclaimed dramatically, before collapsing into a another round of sobs.

"That's it?" Ted asked. "Your boyfriend broke up with you and now the world is ending?"

"That's not all there is to it," she snapped. "Because of this, I have nowhere to stay this summer. I was going to go to his house, but now I can't!"

"Why can't you stay at your house?"

"Because my parents are going to France. And no, I am absolutely not going with them."

"Why can't you stay at home alone?"

"I'm not allowed. Besides, all our house-elves go with my parents, so there would be no one to do the cooking and cleaning for me."

Ted decided it would be best not to suggest that she could do those things for herself.

"Why can't you go to France with your parents?"

"Because then I'd have to tell them that Radulf and I broke up and I can't do that, not until I find a respectable pure-blood boy to replace him with."

He tried not laugh. Was she serious?

"I was supposed to marry him," she continued. "I'm not going to spend all summer listening to my mother tell me what a failure I am for not being able to hold on to my boyfriend. Bella has married that Lestrange idiot. Cissy has only just turned 15, but she's already got Lucius Malfoy eating out of her hand. And I've just been dumped!" She let out a loud wail.

"Just stay with one of your friends," Ted suggested, wishing he could leave. His stomach was beginning to growl and missing dinner to comfort a girl who had never given him the time of day until now was not on his schedule. "One of your friend's who's not India, obviously."

"I can't," she said. "Their parents would tell my parents that I was there instead of with the Selwyns."

Ted shifted uncomfortably. He just wanted to leave. "Erm..."

Andromeda lifted her head and looked him up and down. "Where do you live?"

"In southwest England. On a farm."

Andromeda's nose wrinkled when he said 'farm', but she smiled sweetly. "Can I stay with you for the summer?"

He wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly. "Excuse me?"

"It would be perfect," she continued, completley ignoring him. "I'll tell my friends I'm going to France with my parents and I'll let my parents think I'm the Selwyn Manor. But really I'll be at your, er...farm, with your parents who have no idea who I am and won't be able to tell my parents that I'm not where I'm supposed to be."

"I don't know if my parents would be okay with that," said Ted, feeling slightly panicked. "Who would I even tell them your are?"

"Your girlfriend," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just tell them I'm your girlfriend."

Ted stood there, frozen. He felt trapped.

"Erm, I don't...I think...okay, yeah...fine," he found himself saying, despite the voice in the back of his frantically shouting at him to tell her no.

Andromeda smiled. "Excellent!"

* * *

Andromeda was sure that she had lost her mind. Had she really just invited herself to stay at Ted Tonks's farm for the summer? He was a muggleborn Hufflepuff, for Merlin's sake! Was this even worth it? She should just tell her parents the truth. How bad could it be, really? She pictured her mother's face after she told her the news, red-faced and seething with anger, mouth open to scream. And her father, cold as stone, retreating into his study with a drink in his hand, too disappointed to even look her in the eye. She shuddered. A summer on a muggle farm had to better than spending a summer listening to how she had let down the entire family. It had to be.

"Just out of curiosity," said Ted. "Why did Radulf dump you?"

"I wouldnt sleep with him," she sighed, leaning her head back against the wall and gazing up at the ceiling.

Ted didn't say anthing for a while. She lowered her head, wondering if he had walked away without her noticing, and saw that he was still there, staring at her, a strange expression on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing at all."

* * *

**It's been forever since I've posted anything on here. I know I should have updated the two stories I've already started before posting this one, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you think it's good enough to continue with.**

**P.S.- I'm sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. I typed this without the help of spellcheck. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Here we are," said Ted, as he and Andromeda stepped out of his father's pickup truck. "Home sweet home."

Andromeda stared up at the farmhouse, trying to hide her displeasure, but failing miserably. Peeling paint. Hideously outdated curtains. A rickety old porch. And was that manure she was smelling? Feeling slightly sick to her stomach, she imagined that she was at the Selwyn's huge manor house instead, with it's lavish decor and expensive furniture, wrapped in Radulf's arms and laughing at something India had said. Somewhere a dog let out a loud bark and she was jolted back to reality. She was stuck on a farm. For the entire summer. With Ted Tonks.

"I must say," said Mr. Tonks, as he came around the truck, "Ted's mum and I were very surprised when he wrote to us and said his girlfriend was coming to stay for the summer. We didn't know he was seeing somebody."

Andromeda smiled weakly, resisting the urge to gag at the thought of being Ted's girlfriend.

"Thank you for having me," she said, deciding it was in her best interest to be polite. Surviving the rest of the summer here would be hard enough by itself. She didn't need Ted's parents poisoning her food or ordering a cow to attack her to add to this mess.

Mr. Tonks smiled at her. He looked a lot like Ted, only older, with flecks of gray in his thinning blond hair.

Andromeda started walking up the porch steps, cringing as they creaked under her weight. "Ted, bring in my trunk," she ordered.

Behind her, she heard Mr. Tonks chuckle. "She's a bossy little thing, isn't she?"

* * *

"This mattress is lumpy," Andromeda informed Ted.

The two of them were in Ted's sister Shannon's room. She was spending the summer in America and wouldn't be needing it.

"Sorry, princess, but you're going to have to deal with it. It's the only extra bed we have in the house."

"Why don't you have a guest room?"

"Because we don't usually have guests."

Andromeda sighed and looked around the room. There were lots of posters on the wall, all with muggle singers on them that she'd never heard of. Stacks of records covered the floor.

"You're sister likes music, doesn't she?"

Ted nodded. "It's a bit annoying, actually. She's always playing it much too loudly when I'm trying to sleep."

Andromeda ran her hands over the sheets. "What's the thread count of these?"

Ted sat down in his sister's bean bag chair and looked up at Andromeda warily. "I don't even know what that means."

She sighed loudly. "I'm asking because these sheets feel a bit scratchy. My sheets at home are 1000 count Egyptian cotten.

"Look, Black," said Ted, "I didn't ask you to come here. I don't even want you here. This was your idea and if our sheets don't live up to your standards then that's too damn bad."

Andromeda sighed again. He was right, of course. She had brought this upon herself.

"Just so you know," he added, as he stood up to leave, "you'll be helping me with the farm chores while your here." He paused, watching as her eyes widened. "And since we're both still 16, we'll be doing them all the muggle way."

She buried her face in the pillow as Ted left, slamming the door closed behind him.

This was going to be a long, long summer.

* * *

"I'm sorry, you want me to do what?"

Andromeda was currently staring at Ted as if he had just expressed a desire to marry Moaning Myrtle and spend the rest of eternity sharing her toilet.

He smirked. "You're going to help me as I assist a cow in giving birth. Normally my dad and I would do it, but he's out of town at an agricultural conference."

His mother looked over at them from her place by the stove. "Do you want more eggs, dear?" she asked Andromeda kindly.

"No, thanks," she muttered, using her fork to move her uneaten eggs around her plate. "I've lost my appetite."

Ted wiped his hands on his napkin and stood up. "Well, we better get out there," he said brightly. "Time's a wasting."

He stifled a laugh at the expression on Andromeda's face. She looked like a prisoner walking to her execution. He swung his arm around her shoulder as she came around the table. "Come on, love, it'll be fun."

She glared at him darkly, but he only smiled wider.

"You two are just too cute together," Ted's mum said, as he opened the back door and led his "girlfriend" out into the sunny June morning.

* * *

"I'm going to murder you, Tonks!" Andromeda had never wanted to strangle someone so badly in her entire life. "You scared the shit out of me!"

Ted laughed, making her angrier. "Come on," he said, "it was kind of funny."

"No, it was not!" she screeched. "I thought I was actually going to have to see a cow give birth!"

"Did you really think I would do that to you on your first full day here?" he asked. "Come on, Black, give me some credit."

"I'm going to kill you," she muttered.

"It was just a joke."

"Jokes are supposed to be funny! I'm not laughing!"

"Why are you so mad?" he asked. "At least you don't have to actually help a cow give birth."

Andromeda pushed past him. "I'm going back inside. In fact, I'm going back to bed. It is way too fucking early to deal with you and your idiotic sense of humor."

"Tsk, tsk, that's not the kind of language a lady should use."

She flipped him off.

"Besides," he continued, stopping her in her tracks, "I still need your help. You know, with chores that actually exist."

She whirled around, once again seriously doubting her decision to come here. An entire summer of dealing with her parents' disappointment and frustration had to be better than this.

"What kind of chores?" she asked suspiciously.

He grinned. "Nothing too difficult."

* * *

A few hours later, Andromeda wiped the sweat from her brow. Apparently Ted's idea of "nothing too difficult" included repairing a rather large chunk of a fence that had been damaged during a storm.

"It's too hot," she groaned. "Tell me again why I have to wear your sister's jeans?"

"You wouldn't want to be wearing shorts right now," said Ted. "All this wire would scratch you up bad."

She sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"We're almost done," he said, as if he could read her mind. "Then we can have lunch and you can change into a pair of Shannon's short's if you'd like."

Andromeda had figured out soon after she had arrived that none of her clothes were suitable for the farm life. Luckily for her, Ted's sister was about the same size and had a closet full of old clothes for Andromeda to choose from.

* * *

Ted tried not to stare at Andromeda's legs as she came down the stairs, but he failed miserably. She had on a pair of shorts that lived up to their name. They were _short_.

He cleared his throat. "Erm," he said, feeling his face heating up, "we're going into town for lunch, if that's okay."

She nodded. "That's fine."

"Good,"he said, leading them out to the truck. "Because this place has the best burgers in all of England."

* * *

Andromeda would never admit it to him, but she was the slightest bit jealous of Ted's parents. As she got to know them, it became obvious that they were the complete opposite of her parents.

His mum was a little on the the heavy side, with rosy cheeks and a kind smile. She was always wearing an apron and baking things. She was the antithesis of Andromeda's mother, who was tall and thin and always perfectly coifed. Druella Back rarely smiled and when she did it never reached her eyes. She would never be caught dead in an apron and left all the cooking to the house-elves.

Mr. Tonks spent a lot of time reading the paper, just like Andromeda's father, but unlike Cygnus Black he always put it down when his wife or son or even Andromeda spoke to him, giving them his undivided attention. He was always whistling some tune or another and made a lot of jokes about muggle politics that she didn't understand.

They were the kind of parents who listened to their son, who loved him dearly and made their affection clear. They placed no value on 'upholding the family name'. They would never pressure him into marrying someone he did not want to marry. All they cared about was his happiness.

* * *

Two weeks later, Andromeda was surprised to discover that she was still alive. And while Ted was still driving her crazy and the work was still a pain in the arse, she had stopped wishing that she had gone to France with her parents instead.

"A horse," she said uncertainly. "You want me to get on a horse with you?"

She and Ted were currently standing the stable, both looking up at a brown horse named Asher.

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because it's fun. Us farm folk are allowed to have fun once in a while, you know."

She bit her lip. "I've never ridden a horse before."

"I know," said Ted. "That's why we're doing this."

She just stood there, staring up at the horse in front of her. It was so tall. She hadn't realized horses were such large animals.

"I won't let you fall," he whispered. "I promise."

She looked up into his bright blue eyes and found herself nodding. Because he looked so sincere, so honest, so kind. She trusted him.

Ted climbed up onto the horse and then held his hand to help her up.

"Put your hands around my waist," he instructed.

She did, trying to ignore how nice his stomach muscles felt under his T-shirt. Quidditch and farm work were certainly doing something for him.

"Hold on," he said, giving the horse a kick in the side. They took off across the field at a gallop and Andromeda let out a loud squeal, wrapping her arms tighter around him.

"Ted!" she shrieked. "Slow down!"

The horse soon slowed to a brisk trot.

"That's the first time you've ever called me Ted," he said softly. "When no one else is around, I mean."

He was right, she realized. Unless his parents were around and she had to pretend she was his girlfriend, she always called him Tonks.

"It's just a name," she murmured, feeling an unfamiliar flutter in her stomach. "It's no big deal."

* * *

"I want to show you something," said Ted, later that night.

Andromeda redirected her gaze from the episode of 'Bewitched' that was currently on television to him. "What?"

"Just follow me," he replied.

He led her up a flight of stairs and into his bedroom. She hadn't been in there until then, and she looked around curiously as he opened the window. The room was small,much smaller than her's at home, with white walls and hardwood floors. It was sparsely decorated, but she supposed that was because he spent most of his time at Hogwarts. It was surprisingly tidy, especially for someone who never seemed to be able to keep his shirt tucked in or his shoelaces tied. His bed was made. His trunk was open and she could see all his school belongings neatly piled inside. The only truly personal touch was a framed photo, the muggle kind, of a girl with blonde hair and a pretty smile that was sitting on the table by his bed.

"Come on," said Ted, interuppting her thoughts. Somehow, without her noticing, he had climbed out the window and onto the roof.

"Careful," he said, as she stepped out into the cool evening air. Normally she would have been scared, but the roof was almost comletely flat, with only a slight tilt, and she knew it was unlikely that she would fall. She sat down beside him and looked at him questioningly.

He lay down and motioned for her to do the same.

She did, putting her hands behind her head and looking up at the dark night sky.

"Wow," she murmured, gazing up in wonder at what seemed like millions of twinkling stars. "They're beautiful."

"I used to come out here all the time with my dad when I was younger," said Ted. "We'd just lie here and look up at the stars. He'd always point out all the constellations to me because I was rubbish at finding them."

Andromeda tried to imagine doing something like that with her father, but she couldn't. Her father had never made time for her, not when she was a child and certainly not now. She still remembered running into his study when she was younger and begging him to come play with her, only to have him shoo her out of the room and shut the door in her face with "I'm busy" as his only explanation.

The two of the were quiet for a while, staring up at the sky, lost in thought.

"Ted," Andromeda finally said, breaking the silence. "Who was that girl in the picture in your room?"

"Just someone," he said.

"Is she your ex-girlfriend?"

He didn't reply for a minute, but then he nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you miss her?"

He nodded again.

"Sometimes I miss Radulf," she admitted. "Even though he's an asshole and I know I shouldn't."

"He shouldn't have broken up with for the reason he did," said Ted. "That wasn't cool."

"When I told you why he dumped me, you gave a weird look," she said, remembering that day in the empty classroom when she had found her crying. "Why was that?"

"I guess I just figured you two were already shagging."

"Why?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess because you were always all over each other. Also, you're friends with Adee."

"So because my friend's a floozy, you thought that meant I was too?"

He chuckled. "Floozy?"

"What's wrong with the word 'floozy'?

"Nothing," he said, still laughing.

"Would you prefer I say 'tart' or 'trollop'? Maybe 'hussy'?

* * *

"You're funnier than I thought you would be," Ted told her.

"Let me get this straight," said Andromeda. "You thought I was a slut with no sense of humor?"

"A stuck-up slut with no sense of humor," he corrected.

She giggled, lifting her hand to brush her hair from her face.

Ted noticed that her pink nail polish had started to chip away. There were a few scratches on her hand and a bit of dirt stuck under one of her nails. You could tell a lot about a person by their hands, and Andromeda's hands had certainly changed. They were no longer the hands of someone who had never done a hard day's work in her life, someone who had been spoiled since birth. They were the hands of someone learned how to mend a fence , ride a tractor, and milk a cow. Someone who slept on scratchy sheets that weren't imported from Egypt. Someone who would lay on a dirty roof and not worry that it would mess up her hair.

* * *

"Ted."

Ted rolled over, ignoring whoever was speaking to him.

"Ted, wake up. It's morning."

He sat up and blinked a couple times, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight. He and Andromeda were still on the roof.

"We fell asleep," she said. "I've never slept outside before."

If a person had told Ted Tonks a month earlier that one day he'd fall asleep next to Andromeda Black on the roof of his house, he would have told that person that they were crazy. But now, sitting there with her, soaking in the sun on that beautiful July morning, it didn't really seem so strange.

"You snore, did you know?" Andromeda said, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said, yawning. "Julie told me."

"Julie?"

"My ex."

"Oh," said Andromeda.

He saw a flicker of something in her eyes. Sadness? Disappointment? Jealousy?

"Well," she said, "Julie had a lot of patience. It was driving me crazy and I only had to deal with it for one night."

"Wait a minute," said Ted. "If you woke up last night for long enough to notice that I was snoring, why didn't you go inside where it's warm and more comfortable? Why would you stay out here?"

She shrugged. "I didn't want to move. I was too tired. Besides, it wasn't so bad, being out here with..." She paused, her brown eyes locking with his blue ones. She immediately turned red and looked away. "... With nature and the stars," she finished quickly.

"Right," murmured Ted, stretching his arms over his head. "Nature and the stars."

* * *

**That was a pretty quick update if I do say so myself. Once again, I had no spellcheck, so bear with me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

"It's my birthday!" Andromeda exclaimed, as she flounced into the kitchen a few mornings later.

Ted and his parents were sitting at the table, nibbling on toast and drinking coffee. Ted shot her a grin and then went back to his breakfast. Mr. Tonks murmured "happy birthday," as he scanned an article about Vietnam.

Mrs. Tonks set down her coffee cup and smiled. "Happy birthday, sweetheart," she said. "I'm going to be baking you a cake later. What kind would you like?"

Ted and Mr. Tonks's heads shot up at the mention of cake.

"Well, I usually have Charlotte Portugaise," Andromeda said, naming a fancy French cake her mother always had specially ordered for her birthday.

She was met with three blank stares.

"But chocolate's good too," she added.

"Wonderful," said Mrs. Tonks. "Chocolate I can do."

"So you're 17," said Mr. Tonks, setting down his newspaper. "That means you can do magic now, right?"

Andromeda nodded enthusiastically and pulled out her wand. "Would you like to see?"

Both of Ted's parents nodded, their eyes widening in anticipation.

She gave her wand a flick, sending Mr. Tonks's coffee cup zooming across the kitchen and back. With another flick, she transfigured the cup into a wine goblet and just as quickly changed it back again. She finished her display by sending a shower of red sparks up in the air.

* * *

Ted watched his parents applaud after Andromeda finished her little performance. Both of them absolutely adored her. This had surprised him at first. He had assumed that Andromeda would act like a complete brat and that his parents would wonder why he was even dating someone as self-centered as her. But that hadn't been the case at all. Although she was a little high maintenance, she had never been anything but polite to his parents. And considering her upbrining, Ted thought that was a small miracle. His parents were, after all, muggles.

"Ted, dear," his mum said. "Did you plan anything special for Andromeda's birthday?"

Shit.

She was supposed to be his girlfriend. His mum probably expected him to have planned out some kind of romantic day for Andromeda and him. Or at least have bought her some sort of expensive present.

Shit.

He hadn't done either of those things.

Being a fake boyfriend was harder than he had expected it to be.

Andromeda seemed to realize something was wrong when he didn't immediately respond.

"It's alright, Mrs. Tonks," she said. "I don't really like when people make a big deal out of my birthday."

Ted somehow doubted that was true.

"Nonsense, dear," his mum said. "I'm sure Ted planned something wonderful."

Andromeda shot him an apologetic look. "I tried," she mouthed.

He gave her a weak smile and then turned to his mum. "I, erm, figured that Andromeda and I can, er, go swimming at the lake and then I can take her shopping and buy her whatever she picks out."

His mum frowned. "You're not going to surprise her with a gift?"

"I'm rubbish at picking out gifts," he said.

"It's true," Andromeda added quickly. "He bought me the ugliest jumper I'd ever seen in my life for Christmas. It was, er, bright orange with purple stripes. And a giant snowman in the middle."

Ted nodded vigorously. "It was hideous."

The two of them smiled as innocently as possible as his mum, hoping she she wouldn't notice that they were blatantly making up lies on the spot.

She seemed to believe them. "Alright, then," she said. "Have fun."

"Not too much fun," his dad muttered, as the two of them stood up to leave. "I'm not ready to be a grandfather quite yet."

Andromeda's face turned red and she quickly darted upstairs to put on her swimsuit.

* * *

"We're going swimming down at the lake," Ted told her when she came back downstairs. "It's a couple miles down the road so we'll have to take the truck.

Andromeda smiled mischievously. "No, we don't," she said, grabbing his arm.

"Wha-?" he began.

Before he could finish his question, Andromeda had spun on her heel and Disapparated.

"I'm 17, remember?" she said when they landed, a bit unsteadily, on the edge of the small lake.

Ted nodded. "Right. But next time could you give me a little warning?"

Andromeda tilted her head up to the sky, feeling the warm sun beating down on her face. "I love being 17," she said, throwing her arms in the air and spinning around. "I love magic and I love summer and I love..." She paused, pulling her tank top over her head, revealing her polka dot bikini. "... I love swimming!"

With that, she licked off her shoes and shorts and ran into the lake, father and farther, until only her head was showing. She turned, treading water, and called out to Ted. "Come on in. The water's great!"

She leaned back and let out a loud shriek. She had never felt more free than she did in that moment. Because there, in that lake somewhere in southern England, with a muggle boy with blue eyes and a beautiful smile, she could forget about everything. Forget that Radulf had dumped her. Forget how angry her mother was going to be when she found out. Forget that her entire life was already planned out for her and this, none of this, would fit into it.

* * *

Andromeda had gone insane. Ted had never seen her this out of control. Splashing around like a maniac, laughing hysterically, and having what appeared to be the time of her life.

"Is that a rope swing?" she asked, using her hand to shield the sun from her eyes as she squinted at a large tree that sat on a hill overlooking the lake.

"Yup," he said, nodding.

Her eyes lit up and she began swimming over to it. He watched as she climbed out of the water and went to stand by the rope. She grabbed ahold of it, took a running start, and swung high into the air before letting go. For a moment, she seemed to hang suspended in mid-air, her long chestnut hair flying behind her, illuminated by the beams from the sun. Then she fell, landing with a splash a few feet away from him, disappearing completely into the murky water.

When she popped back up, Ted's mouth dropped open.

Her bikini top had fallen off.

* * *

"What?" Andromeda asked.

Ted was staring at her, a strange expression on his face.

"Your top is gone," he muttered, quickly looking away.

She looked down and let out a gasp. "Oh my god," she squealed, immediately ducking back under water so that only her head was exposed. "Oh my god," she said again. "How am I supposed to find it?"

She had left her wand at his house, so she couldn't summon it. And the water was much too deep and murky to see anythng properly.

"I doubt you'll be able to," he said. "I'll go get your towel."

They swam to the shallow part of the lake and Ted got out, carefully avoiding looking at Andromeda, and handed her a towel.

"I'm mad at you," she said, as she wrapped herself in it and stepped out of the lake.

"At me? What did I do?"

"You looked!" she said.

"That's not my fault," he protested. "You popped out of the water right in front of me!"

"Yes, but you looked for nuch longer than necessary," she told him. "You stared."

"Well, I am a red-blooded male, Andromeda," he said. "There are some things that I just can't help."

She smacked his arm playfully. "Pervert."

"So are you ready to leave?" he asked.

Andromeda stared out at the water, so peaceful, so inviting. "Not really," she said. "I want to go back in."

"But you don't have a top."

She reached down and picked up her tank top. "Look away," she said.

When he did, she dropped her towel and pulled it on.

"Race you to the other side!" she shouted and took off into the water.

Halfway across the lake, he caught up to her, grabbing her around the middle and pulling her back. She squealed, trying to loosen herself from his grip, but he only held on tighter.

In that moment, right before he pulled her under, Andromeda wondered what India would think if she saw her now. Soaking wet, laughing hysterically, and wrapped in the arms of Ted Tonks. A Hufflepuff. A mudblood.

* * *

**This chapter is a little short, but I hope you guys still liked it. Please leave me a review letting me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Ted!" someone shouted, as he and Andromeda stepped out of the pickup truck. "Shit, man, where the hell have you been all summer?"

Ted casually threw his arm around Andromeda's shoulder and led her over to a group of guys about their age, all of whom were gathered around a keg.

Ted had announced to Andromeda earlier that evening that the two of them were going to a party in a nearby field. Apparently it was where the teenagers in the area had been coming to drink and smoke and do other things their parents wouldn't approve of for years. She looked around as Ted greeted the guys. There were pickup trucks scattered all over the place, with groups of kids sitting on the backs of them, drinking and snogging and laughing. Nearby, five or six people stood in a circle, smoking something that didn't smell like tobacco. Andromeda squirmed. The smell made her head hurt.

"Who's this?" a guy with shaggy brown hair asked, looking straight at her. He looked friendly enough, with a bit of a babyface that he had obviously tried to hide by growing a beard.

"This is Andromeda," said Ted. "My girlfriend. Andromeda, this is Paul."

"Finally over Julie, huh?"

Andromeda watched Ted's eyes narrow for a second. "Yeah, I guess," he said faintly, not sounding too convincing.

"You want a beer?" Paul asked Ted.

He shook his head. "Nah, I have to drive."

"What about you?" he asked, turning to Andromeda.

"No, thank you," she said. She had never had muggle beer before, but she had a feeling it didn't taste much like butterbeer.

"Is Mark here?" Ted asked.

"Somewhere," said Paul, looking around.

"I'm going to go find him," said Ted. "You coming?" he asked Andromeda.

She shook her head. "I'm going to go find somewhere to sit down," she said. Her head was throbbing and she felt so very, very out of place.

She wandered around for a few minutes, before coming across a guy sitting by himself in the back of a pickup truck, smoking what Andromeda was pretty sure was marijuana. The smell was giving her a headache, but this seemed like the only place she could sit where there weren't huge groups of people she didn't know. She didn't feel like dealing with too many people right now, especially muggles who were laughing too loudly and chugging beer.

"Can I sit here?" she asked.

The guy nodded, taking another drag of his joint.

She took a seat next to him. "I'm Andromeda."

"Mark."

Mark. Why did that name sound familiar?

"I think Ted's looking for you," she said.

He turned to look at her, his eyes watery and bloodshot. "You know Ted?"

"He's my boyfriend," she said, noticing that the lie had become easier to say.

"Where's he been all summer?" asked Mark, smashing the joint out and flicking it away.

She shrugged. "With me, I guess."

He laughed.

"Are you two good friends?" she asked.

He nodded. "Used to be inseparable," he said. "When we were kids we did everything together. We've grown apart though. He's always at the boarding school of his. Is that where you're from?"

"Yes."

He lit another joint.

"So why are you sitting here alone?" Andromeda asked.

He shrugged. "Not really in the mood to talk to anyone. My life's been pretty shitty recently."

"How so?"

"My girlfriend's pregnant. I don't even know if I love her, but now I probably have to marry her."

Andromeda patted his arm sympathetically. "Just because you don't love someone now, doesn't mean you won't learn to. In my experience, the more time you spend with someone, the more you grow to care for them."

He smiled faintly. "I'm going to go find something to eat. I'll be right back."

Andromeda lay back and stared up at the sky. Mark returned with a bag of pretzels. She wasn't sure how long the two of them lay there, staring up at the stars, before Ted found them. He took one look at the joint in Mark's hand and then turned to Andromeda, his face red.

"What the hell are you doing?" he snapped.

She sat up. "What?" she asked, yawning.

"Have you been smoking weed?" he asked.

"No!" she exclaimed, offended. "Of course not."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you sure?" he asked, opening his eyes.

She nodded, yawning again. "I was just keeping Mark company."

They both looked at him. He had fallen asleep sometime in the last minute or so and was snoring lightly, the bag of pretzels clutched in his hands.

"He's been having a rough time," she said softly.

"Yeah, I heard," said Ted.

"I'm tired," she whispered, her eyes felt heavy and keeping them open was beginning to feel like more trouble than it was worth.

"You wanna go home?" he asked.

She nodded slowly, feeling her eyelids begin to droop.

Ted bent down, scooping her up, like she weighed hardly anything. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly. He lay her down gently in the backseat of his truck. She heard him start the engine and then she heard nothing at all, having faded away into her dreams.

* * *

She woke up late the next day and stumbled downstairs to find Ted watching television.

"Happy birthday," she said, standing in the doorway.

He looked up and smiled. "Hey," he said. "There you are. I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."

She walked into the room and sat down beside him. "How's it feel to finally be 17?" she asked.

"Pretty good," he replied. "I've been driving my parents mental, Apparating all over the house."

"My widdle Teddy's not a baby anymore," she cooed.

Ted's face turned red. "Don't call me Teddy," he muttered.

* * *

They went into town for lunch, just the two of them.

"Sheila's working today!" said Ted excitedly, when they walked into the diner that, according to the sign out front, served the best burgers in all of England. "You haven't met her yet."

"Who's Sheila?"

He pointed at an older woman with white hair who was taking the order of a family sitting at a booth in the corner. "She's like a grandmother to me. I've known her all my life."

They sat down at a small booth by a window. A few minutes later, Sheila came over to take their order.

"Teddy, darling," she said, squeezing his cheeks. "Happy birthday, sweetheart!"

"Hey," said Andromeda. "How come she gets to call you Teddy?"

Sheila redirected her gaze to Andromeda. "Teddy," she said. "Why haven't you introduced me to this lovely young lady?"

"This is Andromeda," he said. "She's my girlfriend. We go to the same boarding school."

"Ah," said Sheila. "The mysterious boarding school. Perhaps you can tell me a little more about that place, Andromeda. Teddy is always so secretive."

"I'm afraid I can't," said Andromeda, smiling.

After they had ordered, Shiela looked Ted straight in the eye. "This girl's a keeper," she said. "I like her much more than that last girl of yours. Julie."

Even though she knew she shouldn't, Andromeda couldn't help but smile when she heard that.

When they had finished eating and were about to leave, Andromeda heard someone-a female-call Ted's name from somewhere behind her. She watched his face light up as he quickly stood up and hurried over to whoever it was. Andromeda twisted around in her seat and saw Ted talking to a girl with light blonde hair and tanned skin. She was the girl in the picture in Ted's room. His ex-girlfriend. Julie.

Andromeda felt something flare up inside her, a possessive sort of anger, the same sort of feeling she used to have when she'd see Radulf talking to another girl. Which didn't make much sense. Ted was her fake boyfriend. She had no reason to be jealous that he was talking to Julie. Absolutely no reason at all.

Julie wasn't even that pretty anyway. Sure, she had that blonde hair, blue eyes combo that so many guys seemed to like, but in Andromeda's opinion it was totally generic.

She stood up, even though she knew she shouldn't, and walked over to where Ted and Julie were standing.

"Hey, baby," she said, pressing herself up against him. "Are you almost ready to go?"

"Who's this?" Julie asked.

"This is my girlfriend," Ted said. "Andromeda."

Julie smiled weakly. "It's nice to meet you, Andromeda."

* * *

Ted was feeling a bit conflicted.

Here was Julie, the girl he'd been madly in love with for ages, the girl he'd dated the year before, the girl who had broken up with him because he was always away at school. And here was the opportunity he'd been waiting for. She was standing right there, looking thrilled to see him and completely jealous of Andromeda. He had always figured that he'd jump at the chance to get back together with her. That nothing could stop him.

And yet, here was Andromeda, beautiful Andromeda, pressed up against him, playing the girlfriend card like she was...jealous? And he kind of liked it. For some reason, it didn't really bother him that she was ruining his chances with Julie. He placed his hand in the small of Andromeda's back, dangerously close to her bum, where there was a small patch of skin between her shirt and shorts that was exposed. She let out a small moan when he touched her, so quitely that no one but him could hear it.

"I'll just go wait outside while you two finish talking," said Andromeda, her face turning red. "I, er...I need some air."

She hurried away.

Ted turned back to Julie.

"So that's your girlfriend," she said.

He nodded.

"You really love her, don't you?"

He looked at Julie, surprised. "What makes you say that?"

"I'm not blind Ted," she said. "I saw the way you were looking at her. It's how you used to look at me. You're in love with her.

Ted turned his head to the door, where he could see Andromeda standing right outside, her long curly hair flying in the wind, somehow managing to look gorgeous in a pair of ratty denim shorts and an old flannal shirt.

"Yeah," he said. "I guess I am."

"Don't wait too long to tell her," said Julie. "She deserves to know."

With that, she stood on her toes and gave Ted one last kiss on the cheek, before turning to go.

Ted watched her walking away, disappearing from again, and he realized that he wasn't as disappointed as he thought he'd be.

* * *

"Let's go bowling," Ted suggested, as they left the diner. "It's my birthday, so you can't really say no."

"Fine," said Andromeda said, slipping her hand into his. "Lead the way."

She was holding his hand. Why was she holding his hand?

"The bowling alley is this way," he said, as they continued walking, their hands still entwined.

"I've never been bowling," she told him. "Is it fun?"

"If it wasn't fun, do you really think I'd want to do it?

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I mean, do you think _I'll_ think it's fun?"

"I think so," he said, shrugging. He paused. "You will have to wear rented shoes though."

Andromeda stopped walking. "Rented shoes?"

"Yup," he replied.

"Like other people have worn them before me? People I don't know. People who could have had foot fungus or something."

"You wear my sister's shoes and you don't know her."

"That's different!" Anndromeda snapped, a look of disgust etched across her face. "I've seen pictures of your sister and she looks completely hygenic."

"It'll be fine, Andromeda," he said, wishing he hadn't said anything.

"I'm not going," she said.

"Suit yourself," he replied, pulling away a bit. "But I am. You can Apparate home if you'd like."

He expected her to let go of his hand and stand there in the middle of the sidewalk, refusing to move. But instead, as he tried to walk away, her grip on his hand tightened.

"Fine," she said. "I'll wear the stupid rented shoes."

Ted smiled. "Good."

* * *

They bowled for hours. At first, Andromeda got gutter ball after gutter ball and Ted watched in amusement as she grew more and more frustrated.

"Argh!" she groaned. "This game is so stupid. I can't believe I agreed to this!"

She angrily rolled her ball down the lane...and knocked over all the pins. Her eyes widened. "Ted, did you see that? I got a strike!"

She jumped up and down excitededly and when Ted came over to congraulate her, she threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly, feeling very, very confused.

He was in love with Andromeda Black.

And she seemed to like him a lot too. At least he thought so. It certainly seemed so, with the jealous looks she'd given Julie, and the small moan when he's touched her, and the hand holding when they had been walking down the street.

But she was a pure-blood from a very wealthy family. And he was a muggleborn. What would happen when they returned to Hogwarts? Would she even talk to him? Or would she just go back to treating him like he didn't exist? Would they both go back to how things had been before, when lines had been drawn that were never crossed?

* * *

When Ted and Andromeda finally left the bowling alley, it was eight o'clock in the evening.

"My mum's gonna kill us," saod Ted. "We're late for dinner and she made me a cake and everything."

The two of them started walking to a deserted alleyway, where they could Disapparate without catching the eye of any muggles that happened to be walking by. They passed by a group of teenage boys standing around on the street corner.

"Ted," one of them called out. "Who's the girl?"

They obviously knew Ted, but they were not the same guys from the party the night before. These guys looked like trouble.

"Fuck off, Will," Ted snarled, grabbing Andromeda's hand and trying to push past them.

Will blocked their path. "Where have you been all summer, Ted? We've hardly seen you around."

"He's probably been staying in," another guy called out, eyeing Andromeda hungrily. "I would too if I had a girl who looked like that."

Will smirked, his gaze traveling up and down her body. "She certainly is a pretty little thing, isn't she? Is she from that school of yours, Ted?"

Andromeda watched as Ted nodded stiffly, his jaw clenched.

"Are all the girls there this fit? Jesus, Ted, you're one lucky bloke."

"You know," said Ted, "we really need to be getting home."

Andromeda noticed an edge in his voice that hadn't been there before.

Will leered at her and she backed up a bit, wishing she could just disappear, melt away into the sidewalk, and never have to look into his beady eyes again.

"If you're bored with this idiot," he said, "you can come to a party with us."

Andromeda shook her head. "I think I'll pass."

"Come on, love," another one of the guys chimed in. "There'll be a keg."

Andromeda pursed her lips together. "I said I'm going to pass," she said stiffly.

"You sound like a right snot, did you know?" said Will. "You can have her, Tonks. She's probably a prude anyway."

The group disappeared down the street, laughing loudly.

She felt her lower lip begin to quiver.

"Andromeda," whispered Ted. "Don't worry about anything those guys said. They're all assholes. Especially Will. I've hated him since I was six. We used to go to muggle primary school together and he's steal my milk at lunch."

He was standing so close to her. His eyes were so blue. He smelled like soap. His lips looked so soft, so inviting.

Suddenly she didn't care that it went against everything she'd ever been taught. She wanted to snog Ted Tonks and she wanted to snog him well.

She put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled his face down to hers. And then, pressing her lips to his, Andromeda kissed her "boyfriend" for the first time.

* * *

They kissed for what seemed like hours, standing there on that street corner. Ted wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her as close as he possibly could. But it wasn't enough.

After a while, she pulled back, panting slightly. "We're really, really late for dinner," she said.

Ted glanced at his watch. "Shit."

"We better go," said Andromeda. She spun on her heel and Disapparated.

Ted stood there for a moment, alone in the dark, remembering what Julie had said about telling Andromeda he loved her. He wondered if he should. He wondered if she loved him. With his mind still filled with unanswered questions, Ted Disapparated with a crack and landed in his house.

* * *

That night, just as he was about to go to bed, Ted heard a knock on the door. He opened it and found Andromeda standing there in only a nightgown.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

He nodded, opening the door wider. She took a step inside, looking a little nervous.

"I was thinking," she said, "that I didn't get you anything for your birthday. You even paid for lunch and bowling."

"It's alright," he said. "You din't have to get my anything."

Andromeda looked around the room. "The picture of Julie," she said, "it's gone."

Ted nodded. "Yeah, I figured it was time to get rid of that. It's not good to live in the past, you know."

"Ted," she murmured. "I'm going to give you you're birthday present now."

He lifted an eyebrow. "What is it?"

She didn't reply. Instead she closed the space between them and kissed him.

And he kissed her back.

And they kissed and kissed and kissed.

And they stumbled toward the bed.

And someone cast a silencing charm.

And Ted pulled Andromeda's nightgown over her head.

And Andromeda clumsily unbuckled his belt, removing his jeans.

And they kissed and kissed and kissed.

And Andromeda lay beneath Ted, staring up into his eyes, and told him she was sure.

"Happy birthday, Ted," she whispered in his ear.

And then it happened.

And it was amazing and scary and wonderful and strange.

It was imperfectly perfect.

* * *

**In the next chapter they'll be going back to Hogwarts. So stay tuned for what happens with that.**


	5. Chapter 5

A week before school started, Andromeda returned home. Her parents were back from France and she allowed herself to be swept back into their world. She told them all sorts of lies about Radulf and India, lavish parties, and afternoon tea on the terrace, while keeping to herself the truth about a blond boy with kind eyes and a farmer's tan, swimming in a lake, and sleeping under the stars. She went to Diagon Alley. She ate meals served by house-elves. She proudly showed off her Head Girl Badge. She went through all the motions and her parents didn't suspect a thing.

"Andromeda!" India shouted. "Over here!"

Andromeda pushed her way through the crowd of people gathered on Platform 9 & 3/4 and was immediately engulfed in a hug by her three best friends.

"Oh my god!" squealed Adee. "How was France?"

"It was good," said Andromeda, spotting Ted standing a little ways away, saying goodbye to his parents. She quickly turned her head back to her friends.

"Were there any boys?" Adee asked, an eager expression on her face.

Images of Ted flooded Andromeda's mind. "There was one," she said.

"Was he handsome?" asked Tara.

"Very."

"And French?"

"Of course," she lied. "He goes to Beauxbatons."

Adee smiled mischieviosly. "And your virginity, have you finally lost it?"

Andromeda bit her lip and nodded.

All three girls squealed loudly.

"Andromeda!" India exclaimed. "Why didn't you write and tell me? Am I not your best friend?"

"She was busy," Adee giggled.

India looked past Andromeda. "Ted Tonks is staring at you again. He was probably eavesdropping. What a freak."

Andromeda felt her heart stop. Had he heard her conversation?

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she heard Ted say from behind her, his deep voice so familar to her. "But you were talking rather loudly."

He walked passed them, knocking into Adromeda a bit as he did so, though if it was on purpose or an accident she couldn't tell. "I think everyone heard all about Andromeda's French adventures."

His eyes met hers, his gaze as instense as ever. "Congratulations, Black. He sounds like quite a fellow."

She watched as he boarded the train, feeling sick to her stomach.

"I'd burn that cloak if I were you," said India. "He probably got his filthy mudblood germs all over it when he bumped into you."

Andromeda thought that maybe she felt a headache coming on too.

"We better get a compartment," said Tara.

Andromeda followed the three of them silently, listening as they chattered and giggled, completely oblivious to the fact that she was sure her heart was breaking.

On the train, she watched as Tara and Adee casually chatted with each other, completely at ease. Tara could be mean to Adee, always making fun of her lack of intelligence or never-ending parade of boys, but the two of them had known each other since they were in diapers, just as Andromeda and India had. But at that moment, Andromeda realized that her and Indias's friendship didn't seem quite as strong as it had once been. Because she was keeping a secret from India. A very big secret. And she had never done that before.

"Radulf talked about you all summer," said India. "He wants you back."

Andromeda just nodded, staring out the window, watching the countryside zip by.

"Andromeda!" snapped India. "Didn't you hear me? He wants you back!"

Andromeda knew that in India's mind there was no possibility that she would not want Radulf back as well. To India, it was simple. Both Andromeda and Radulf were pure-bloods from wealthy, influtential families. And yes, they had broken up. And yes, Andromeda had, to India's knowledge, a fling with a French boy. But that was just a small bump in a already paved road. To India, there was no doubt in her mind that Andromeda and her brother would get back together. They would get married and little pure-blood babies and live happily ever after. It was just the ways things worked in their world. It was just how it was.

So Andromeda just nodded absentmindedly.

"Are you still hung up on that French bloke?" asked India. "Because you'll get over him soon enough."

"I like him a lot," Andromeda murmured.  
India patted her arm. "That's only natural. He was your first. But eventually you'll get over him. Besides, he lives in another country. How would things between the two of you even work out?"

Andromeda opened her mouth to reply, but then shut it again. She had no reply to that question. Because although Ted did not live in another country, she still had no idea how things between them were going to work out. Absolutely no idea at all.

* * *

Ted watched Andromeda as he sat in the Great Hall at the Welcome Feast. Around him, his friends were loudly cheering for a boy who had just been placed in Hufflepuff by the Sorting Hat. Any other year, he would have been clapping right along with them, speculating on whether the kid would play Quidditch and wondering if they had looked so ridiculously small when they had been first years. But Ted was paying no attention to the slightly chubby boy who came scampering down the aisle nervously to take a seat beside him. All he could concentrate on was Andromeda. She was sitting at the Slytherin table, surrounded by her friends, Head Girl badge gleaming on her brand new robes, her eyes glued to the sorting ceremony. Not once had her eyes flickered over to him.

He had supposed he had been naive to think that things would change when the two of them returned to Hogwarts. See was a Black. She had her whole life planned out for her. And he was not a part of it. He was just a summer fling. A footnote that was hardly worth mentioning.

"Ted," his friend John whispered. "What's wrong, man? You've hardly said a word."

"I'm fine," he lied, as his eyes drifted back to the Slytherin table.

He noticed that he was not the only one staring at Andromeda.

Radulf Selwyn seemed a little preoccupied as well.

* * *

Andromeda found him in the library later that evening.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, sitting down beside him. "Classes haven't started. We haven't gotten homework yet."

"Wanted to be alone," he muttered, not looking up at her. "What are you doing in here?"

"I was looking for you," she said.

"Why?" he asked, his tone coming off harsher than he intended.

"Because I wanted to see you, of course," she said.

He finally looked up at her. "Oh, so you're interested in acknoweldging that I exist again?"

She frowned, her perfect eyebrows furrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I heard all that shit you were telling your friends. You're just gonna pretend nothing between us ever happened. Gonna go back to your perfect life and be the perfect pure-blood witch everyone thinks you are."

He wasn't sure why he was so upset. It wasn't as if deep down he hadn't known that would be the case anyway.

He watched her lower lip quiver, her eyes beginning to water. "Shut up, Ted," she whimpered. "You have no idea how I feel right now. You have no idea what's it's like to be taught that something is true for your entire life. To have everyone around you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, believe that something is true. To accept that something is a fact for 16 years and then have it all collapse practically over night. All my life, I've been told that muggleborns are scum, that they don't belong in the Wizarding world, that they're dirty and stupid and you come along, and your parents, and your friends, and I find out that it's not true. That none of it's true! You don't know what that's like. I don't...I have no clue what I'm supposed to feel or believe. I don't even know who I am anymore."

She took a deep breath and looked at him. "Ted, all I know is that right now, in this moment, I want you."

He looked into her eyes, the most beautiful brown in the world, and smiled. "Merlin, Andromeda. That was quite a speech."

"I'm Head Girl," she said quitely.

"I noticed," he repled, nodding at the badge that was pinned to her robes.

"What I meant was that I have my own room," she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Interesting."

* * *

"What. The. Hell. Is. This?"

Andromeda awoke to the sound of a very angry India Selwyn. She opened her eyes and discovered three pairs of eyes looking right back at her. Adee, Tara, and India were all standing at the foot of her bed, arms crossed, expressions rangings from slightly bemused to pissed off to utterly disgusted, respectively.

For a moment, in that small window of time in which a person is neither fully asleep or fully awake, Andromeda couldn't figure out why they were so upset. But gradually, her brain began to shift into gear, and she realized that she was not the only one lying in the bed. Ted was beside her, his naked chest rising and falling at a steady pace, still asleep, completely unaware that their cover had been blown. She pulled her sheet around herself tightly and looked up at her friends.

"I, erm... I can explain," she murmured, wishing that she was dressed, wishing that Ted wasn't lying there beside her, like a giant flashing sign pointing out what she had done wrong.

India's eyebrows shot up in the air. "Really?" she asked. "Because I think I have it all figured out myself. I assume that instead of spending the summer in France hooking up with a handsome French boy like you told us you were, you were actually fucking this mudblood."

India Selwyn was nothing if not astute.

Andromeda stayed silent.

"Can you imagine our shock," India continued, her voice getting louder with each word, "to come up here to get you for breakfast and find you naked in bed with Ted Tonks of all people?" "Have you lost your mind? Do you think my brother will ever want you back now? After you've been with a mudblood? You've ruined yourself! You're a disgrace, Andromeda. What if you had gotten pregnant and ruined the blood purity of your family? What about your parents? This is going to kill them." She was practically shouting now, her voice an octave higher than usual.

Andromeda felt Ted shift beside her. A moment later, his eyes slowly opened. He looked up at the three girls standing around the bed, blinking in surprise.

"Andromeda," he whispered. "How did they get in here?"

"The password," she replied.

"You gave them the password to the Head Boy and Girl Dormitory?"

"They're my best friends, Ted. Of course I did. I didn't think that this would happen."

"Well it did," said Tara, speaking for the first time. "You know, Andromeda, I always thought Adee was the dumb one."

With that, she and India turned and marched out, their footsteps clicking down the stairs, growing fainter and fainter until they were completely gone.

Andromed and Ted both turned and looked at Adee, who was still standing there, her eyebrows knit together as if the whole thing was just too much to even comprehend.

"I don't understand," she murmured. "Why would you do this?"

"Because I love him," Andromeda replied.

It was the first time either of them had admitted it out loud.

Adee tilted her head to the side, considering this. "But he's a mudblood."

"So what?"

"So..." She trailed off, obviously struggling to come up with an explanation for centuries of hatred and prejudice. "So...it's just not right."

"Oh, Adee," Andromeda sighed, shaking her head. "I honestly don't give a damn about what's 'right' anymore."

The blonde girl pursed her lips together and looked at Ted. "He is handsome," she said, in a tone that suggested that it had never occured to her that someone with muggle ancestry could be anything but horribly mutated.

"Thanks, Adee," said Andromeda. Because she knew that Adee admitting Ted was attractive was the closest she was going to get to any of her friends accepting that she had chosen to be with him. In a way, this was Adee's way of saying that although she didn't approve, she still wanted her friend to be happy.

Adee lifted one corner of her mouth into something that resembled a smile, but didn't quite reach her eyes.

"No problem," she whispered, as she turned to leave.

Sometimes Andromeda thought that people were too quick to judge Adee. There were times, in the midst of all her empty-headed remarks, that she seemed to understand more than anyone else.

* * *

"We're not going to have time to eat breakfast," said Andromeda, after Adee left.

Ted felt his stomach growl in protest.

"Yeah," he sighed, looking at the clock.

"I have Potions first," she said. "You do too, right?"

He nodded.

"Alright," she said. "You go get ready and I'll see you there."

He gave her a quick kiss and turned to leave. When he reached the stairs, he turned around. Andromeda was standing by her bed, wrapped in only a sheet, staring back at him. She looked so vulnerable, her eyes wide and her lips pressed together in a frown. In a matter of minutes, she'd had her darkest secret revealed and lost all her friends.

"I love you," he said for the first time, watching as her eyes lit up and her mouth turned upward into a smile.

* * *

Andromeda walked into the Potions room with only a minute to spare before the bell rang.

She immediately noticed that India was sitting with Tim, a Ravenclaw boy in their year. She froze, unsure of where to go. Her Potions class was small, with only twelve seventh years who had chosen to pursue a N.E.W.T in the subject. The people in the class were the exact same twelve as the year before. There were two Gryffindors, four Slytherins (Andromeda, India, Radulf, and a boy named Xander), five Ravenclaws, and only one Hufflepuff (Ted). The year before, Andromeda had always sat with India. She hadn't wanted to be on of those girls who abandoned her friends for her boyfriend, so Radulf had always sat with Xander. Ted had sat with Tim.

But now, India was next to Tim, who she had obviously deemed a worthy table partner because he happened to be a pure-blood. He didn't seem to mind the change though, looking very pleased that one of the most beautiful, unattainable girls in the school had decided to grace him with her presence. He was grinning from ear to ear as she giggled at something he had said. Though he was pure-blood, his family was not nearly affluent enough for India to ever consider him for anything more than a brief fling. But the poor chap, already completely infatuated, didn't know that.

Andromeda dropped into a seat at an empty table, just as the bell rang. A few seconds later Ted rushed in, noticed Tim with India, and immediately sat down next to her instead.

The entire class turned to stare at them, their mouths gaping and their heads swiveling back and forth between them and India. Andromeda could practically hear the questions bursting from their heads.

Why were India and Andromeda not sitting by each other? Had they had some sort of argument? Was India dating Tim the Ravenclaw? And most importantly, was Ted Tonks suicidal? Had he really just willingly sat down beside Andromeda Black?

Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together and everyone quickly turned to face forward.

Andromeda only half-listened as Slughorn explained the assignment, as she stared at India. She had lost her best friend. The one person she had always turned to. The one person who had always been there.

She heard Slughorn say that they would be working with the person at their table on a potion on page something or other, and she turned to look at Ted, hoping that he had been listening better than she had.

He apparently had been because his book was already open to page 35 and he was reading over the instructions. "The two people who have the best potion don't have to do the homework assignment," he told her, as if he knew she hadn't been listening.

Slughorn came over to their table and stood there, watching them, looking as if he wanted to say something, but didn't quite have the words.

"Can we help you, Professor?" Ted asked politely.

Slughorn loved Ted Tonks. Though Ted was pretty average when it came to school work, he had always been gifted when it came to Potions. That combined with his skill on the Quidditch field and his charming personality had earned him a spot in the Slug Club, much to the dismay of Rafulf and India Selwyn, who believed that no one with muggle ancestory should be allowed in such a club.

"Er, well," Slughorn mumbled. "I was merely wondering if the two of you working together is really, such a...wise idea. This assignment is for a grade and I wouldn't want any, erm...feelings of animosity between the two of you to get in the way of you succesfully completing it."

Ted smiled, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I think we'll manage, Professor. But thank you for your concern."

Slughorn clapped him on the shoulder. "Alright, m'boy. I'll see you tonight for the first Slug Club dinner, won't I?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," replied Ted.

* * *

When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Ted gathered up his belongings and stood up. He draped his arm over Andromeda's shoulder and the two of them casually strolled out the door together.

Everyone stopped where they were and stared, aghast.

This was perhaps the most shocking thing any of them had ever seen. It seemed to defy the law of nature. It was as if the lion and the lamb had settled their differences.

Radulf Selwyn, in particular, seemed greatly distressed by this new development.

And that made Ted very happy.

* * *

**Don't forget to review! **


	6. Chapter 6

"Bacon?" Ted asked Andromeda, one morning at breakfast.

"Thanks," she said, taking a few pieces and setting them on her plate.

It was December and she and Ted had been officially dating for a little more than three months.

"You ready for Hufflepuff to annihilate Slytherin in the Quidditch match on Saturday, Andromeda?" Ted's friend John asked, grinning at her from over a copy of the Daily Prophet.

She tossed her long hair over her shoulder and smirked at him. "You wish," she said, biting into a piece of toast.

"That hurts, love," said Ted. "Do you doubt my skills as Seeker?"

"Of course not," she replied, patting his arm. "I just doubt the skills of the rest of your team. Let's face it; Eldritch can barely stay on his broom half the time. And a flobberworm would make a better Beater than Stroulger."

"Hey!" Albert Strougler exclaimed, looking up from his breakfast.

No paid him any mind. Nobody ever paid Strougler any mind.

"I'll check the rulebook," Ted said, chuckling, "and see if flobberworms are allowed to try out for the House teams."

"I better be getting to class," said John, standing up. "See in you in Transfiguration, Ted."

Andromeda had been surprised by how quickly Ted's friends had accepted her. She sat at the Hufflepuff table at every meal now and they always did their best to make her feel welcome, including her in conversations and laughing at her pitifully unfunny jokes. Although sometimes she would still catch one of them staring at her when they thought she wasn't looking, like they couldn't really understand why she was there, this girl who had never given them the time of day, not in six years of going to school together. It was like somewhere, in the back of everyone's mind, they didn't really think any of this would last. At some point, everyone assumed, Andromeda Black would come back to her senses and go back to the life that she was meant to have.

* * *

"We better be getting to Potions," said Ted, glancing down at his watch.

Andromeda didn't reply.

He looked up. "Andromeda?"

She was staring over at the Slytherin table again, obviously lost in thought.

Ted sighed. He wished she could just forget about her so-called friends who had dumped her as soon as she'd done something they didn't approve of.

Last he had checked, that wasn't what real friends did. She deserved better than them. So much better.

* * *

Andromeda was glad that Ted actually paid attention in Potions class. She was sure that without him as her partner, she would be failing the class. It wasn't that she didn't want to listen to what Slughorn was saying, because she did. It was just that most of the time she'd find herself staring at India and her table partner, Tim. Because there was a part of her, a part she wished would just disappear, that desperately wished that she and India were still friends.

Andromeda watched as Tim's hand slid up India's leg, higher and higher, disappearing under her skirt. She turned away in disgust. If Ted tried something like that on her in the middle of class, she'd hex him into oblivion. Everyone was always calling Adee a slut, but sometimes Andromeda thought that India was much worse than Adee could ever be. Adee hooked up with so many boys because she had low self esteem. India did it to get something out of it. She never had boyfriends, only flings. She'd use a boy and then toss him away without a second thought. Andromeda remembered sometimes in their fourth year when India had proudly boasted about snogging the handsome sixth year Quidditch captain in exchange for the password to the Prefect's bathroom. Andromeda, who had been mad at India for some reason or another, had to resist the urge to tell her that she was pretty sure that made her a hooker. She watched Tim smile adoringly at India and she felt a little bad for him. They never saw it coming. And they were always, always heartbroken.

"Andromeda," Ted whispered, nudging her. "You're supposed to be stirring."

"Right," she said, tearing her gaze from India. "I knew that."

* * *

Sitting alone in the library, Andromeda stared sullenly down at her Potions textbook. It might as well have been written in Greek for all the sense it was making. Normally she and Ted studied together, but he had Quidditch practice that night. Neither of them were particularly amazing students, but their strong points seemed to be different subjects, so they managed to help each other through all their classes.

"Ugh," she groaned, slamming the book shut, frustrated.

"Having trouble?" a voice asked from behind her.

She turned around and found herself staring up at Radulf Selwyn. Her eyebrows shot up in the air. "Erm, yeah," she said. "I am. Normally Ted helps me with this stuff."

She looked at him, gauging his reaction to Ted's name. He didn't even blink.

"I can help," he said, running his hand through his dark hair.

For a minute, she considered telling him no. After all, this could only end badly. And yet...there was no one smarter than Radulf Selwyn. And she was really struggling. A lot.

"Okay," she said. "Thanks."

He smiled, taking a seat beside her. She'd forgotten what a lovely smile he had. Most of the time she smirked, but when he smiled genuinely, it lit up the room.

"So what are you having trouble with?" he asked, as she opened the book.

"The real question is: what am I not having trouble with?"

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

He leaned in close, probably closer than was actually necessary to see what was written on the page. Andromeda could practically feel the stares of everyone else in the room, watching Andromeda Black studying with Radulf Selwyn. The gossip would be running rampant the next day, she could already tell. It wouldn't be worth it, except for the fact that Radulf was an excellent teacher. She'd forgotten how easily he could explain the most complicated of things, doing in ten minutes what most teacher couldn't do in ten days. Once he was done explaining something, Andromeda almost felt silly for not understanding before, because he made everything so perfectly clear. No wonder her grades had dropped after their breakup. India was just as smart as her brother, but she had never been able to explain a damn thing to Andromeda. She knew pretty much everything, but was not gifted with the ability to put it into words like Radulf was.

Two hours later, Andromeda shut her book.

"You are an absolute lifesaver," she said. "I was about to spend the entire weekend shut up in my room, studying for this test. I was even thinking about missing the Quidditch game. Now I think I could ace the test right now."

"It was no problem," he said, giving a modest shrug.

"You should be a teacher," she said.

He chuckled. "Yeah, right."

"You wouldn't like that?" she asked.

He looked down at his feet for a moment and then back up at her. "Does it matter," he asked, "if I would like it or not?"

She knew exactly what he meant. People like him – people like her – had their whole lives planned put. Radulf Selwyn becoming a teacher fit into that plan about as much as her being with Ted did.

"All the same," she said quietly, "you'd be a brilliant teacher."

He leaned in a little closer, reaching out and pressing his finger against her cheek. "You had a stray eyelash," he said, holding it out. "Make a wish."

She closed her eyes and gently blew it off his finger. When she opened them, his face was so close she could see the flecks of gold in his green eyes.

"Andromeda …" he whispered.

She leaned back a bit, shaking her head. "Radulf, we can't –"

Before she could finish, he had pressed his lips to hers. For a minute, her brain completely shut down, and she froze, completely shocked. Then, just as quickly she came to her senses and pulled back, horrified.

"Radulf, what the hell are you doing? I have a boyfriend!"

He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest, and leaned back in his chair. "I was your boyfriend first."

"Well, you might recall that you dumped me. You know, because I wouldn't have sex with you."

He winced. "Look, Andromeda, I'm really sorry about that. It was a heat of the moment thing. I regretted it instantly, I really did. All I thought about the entire summer was how much I missed you. I thought the time apart would give you time to cool down and when we got back we could…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. You're with Tonks now. I lost my chance with you because I was a total wanker."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," she said, picking up her book and slipping it back in her bag. "Thanks again for helping me."

He smiled sadly as she stood up. "I'm sorry you've lost your friends," he said. "India's very…"

"Bitchy? Self-absorbed? Judgmental? Prejudiced?"

"All the above," he said, with a chuckle that lacked any of the happiness or enthusiasm that laughter usually had.

"See you tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she said. "At the Quidditch game. You ready for Slytherin to annihilate Hufflepuff?"

"I'm always ready for that," he replied. "See you there."

* * *

Completely exhausted from what had felt like the longest Quidditch practice of his life, Ted made his way to the library. Andromeda had said that she would be there studying for their upcoming Potions test and he wanted to see if she needed any help.

He peered inside the room, spotting her immediately. She was facing away from him, at their usual table. The only unusual thing was who she was sharing the table with. Radulf Selwyn was sitting right beside her, much too close for Ted to feel comfortable with. Their faces were practically touching. He watched in horror as Radulf leaned in closer and closer, pressing his lips to Andromeda's.

Ted quickly turned around, stumbling back to the Hufflepuff common room and up to bed. He barely slept at all that night, the image of his girlfriend kissing another bloke repeatedly running through his mind. He wondered what they were doing know, if she invited him back to her room, if they were awake right now too, doing things he never wanted to imagine her doing with anyone but him.

He had thought he could trust her. He had thought she had changed. He had never thought that she would forgive Radulf so easily.

* * *

"Good morning!" Andromeda exclaimed cheerily, sitting down next to Ted the next morning at breakfast and planting a kiss on his cheek.

He didn't respond, just continued eating, his eyes glued to the Daily Prophet.

"You ready for the game?" she asked, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

"Not really," he replied, his tone surprisingly sharp. "Didn't sleep too well last night."

"Oh?" she asked. "Why not?"

"Hmm," he said, closing the paper and shoving it aside. "Well, it might have had something to do with the fact that all I could think about was how my _girlfriend_ probably wasn't doing too much sleeping either!"

"Actually, I slept really well," she said, slightly confused. "Er, was there some reason you thought I wasn't?"

"I don't know!" he snapped. "Maybe I just figured certain activities with a certain Slytherin were keeping you up!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I saw you snogging Radulf last night in the library."

"Really?" she asked, angry now. "Well then you must have seen me immediately push him away too. I didn't snog him, Ted. He kissed me. I didn't kiss him back. I would never do that!"

Ted expression didn't change. "What were you even doing with him?"

"He was helping me study," she replied. "That was it. That was all that happened. _I swear_."

* * *

Ted knew he should believe what Andromeda was telling him. That Radulf had kissed her and she had pushed him away. That nothing had happened between them. Yet, the nagging suspicion in the back of his mind wouldn't go away. It made sense, after all – Andomeda and Radulf – much more sense than the two of them.

He sighed heavily. He had a game of Quidditch to think about, a snitch to catch. He mounted his broom and waited for the whistle to signal the beginning of the game. Then he took off into the air, surveying the stadium around him. The whole place was a sea of green and silver, yellow and black. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were supporting Hufflepuff, and the cheers for his team were much louder than the cheers for Slytherin.

The game was an intense one, neck and neck nearly the entire time. Ted strained his eyes, looking everywhere for a flash of gold. His gaze passed over the Slytherin section and he spotted Andromeda, her Slytherin scarf wrapped tightly around her neck as she jumped up and down, cheering on the Slytherin team. Just as he was about to look away, to return to his search, he noticed who she was standing beside. Radulf. His eyes narrowed and he tried to tell himself that nothing had happened between them. But his heart was having trouble believing what his head was telling him.

Suddenly, a loud cheer erupted from the Slytherin section. He quickly spun around to see what had happened. The Slytherin seeker was hovering in the air, not far from Ted, his arm raised above his head, proudly clutching the snitch.

Cursing under his breath, Ted glanced back over at Andromeda, who was clapping her hands enthusiastically. Radulf leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She laughed, tilting her head back and slapping his arm.

Ted landed and slipped off his broomstick. He marched into the locker room, ignoring his teammates as they followed, questioning him about why he had not noticed that the snitch had been so close, just out of reach. "You could have caught it," one of them said. "We could have won."

Ted didn't really give a shit.

* * *

**Things are getting intense! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

"So what happened to you today?" Andromeda asked, moaning slightly as Ted kissed his way down her neck.

"Mmm?" he murmured, propping himself up by his elbows to look at her.

"You could have caught that Snitch," she said, as she began to unbutton his shirt.

"I got a little distracted."

"Distracted?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together. "By what?"

"You," he replied simply.

He kissed her then, in hopes that it would shut her up, but also because he really needed to kiss her. To remind himself that she was his, and he was hers. And to convince himself that nobody, not even Radulf Selwyn, could come between them.

She kissed him back, slowly and sweetly, like they had all the time in the world. Like they could stay there in that bed, just the two of them, forever. But all too soon, she pushed him away, smiling up at him as he hovered over her, her hair spread over the pillow like a fan.

"How did I distract you?" she asked.

He sighed and rolled off her, staring up at the ceiling. "You're just too beautiful, I guess."

She laughed. "I hardly think I looked beautiful at the game, all bundled up, with a red nose and hat hair."

"You always look beautiful," he murmured in reply.

"Come on," she said. "What was the real reason you didn't catch the Snitch? It was right there, practically hovering next to your ear."

He was quiet for a moment.

"Well?"

"I saw you standing next to Radulf," he replied quietly. He still didn't look at her, just kept staring up.

"So?" she asked.

"I just don't see why you had to do that after… well, you know."

"I thought we were done with that conversation," she said. "I thought you believed me when I said that _nothing_ happened."

"I do," he said, though he knew that wasn't completely true. "I just don't see why you had to stand next to him right after all that."

"Who else was I supposed to stand next to?" she asked.

Her voice cracked a bit, and he turned to his head to look at her. She was staring right back at him, her brown eyes glistening a bit, like she was on the verge of crying.

"He's the only one in Slytherin who'll talk to me," she whispered. "The _only_ one."

He took her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. "I'm sorry," he told her, his voice soft.

She smiled a bit, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I promise nothing happed between us."

"I know," he said, pulling her closer and planting a kiss on her forehead.

Lying there, tangled together in the sheets, just the two of them, it was easier to believe what she was telling him. It was easier to push all his doubts and insecurities out of his head. It was easier to convince himself that their relationship could work.

"The Christmas holidays start next week," Andromeda murmured.

Ted waited for her to elaborate. She obviously wasn't stating such an obvious fact for no reason.

"I'm going to miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too," he told her. "I wish you could come stay with me. My parents would love to see you again. And my sister really wants to meet you."

"Believe me," she replied, "I would _love_ to come stay at your house. But I have to spend Christmas with my family."

"Do they know about us?"

Andromeda was silent for a moment. "I don't know," she finally said. "I certainly haven't told them. But Narcissa might have. Then again, if she had, I probably would've gotten an angry letter from my parents by now…or maybe a Howler."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it now," Ted said, closing his eyes. "I mean, they'll have to find out eventually, won't they?"

She didn't reply. Ted opened his eyes to look at her. She was staring up at the ceiling, frowning.

"Won't they?" he asked again.

"Yes, of course," she whispered after a moment.

Ted smiled. "Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight."

* * *

On her way to lunch on Monday, Andromeda bumped into someone. Books and parchment went flying and Andromeda quickly dropped to her knees.

"That was my fault," she said, quickly gathering everything up.

She stood up and found herself face to face with Adee.

"Oh," she said. "Erm, sorry…I didn't realize…" She trailed off and shoved Adee's books into her arms.

"Sorry," she said again.

Adee opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something. Her eyes didn't have the same malicious look in them that India and Tara's always seemed to when they looked at her. They were wide and earnest, like maybe, just maybe, she missed Andromeda as much as Andromeda missed her. But before she could say anything she was interrupted by India, who was standing down at the end of the corridor with Tara, waiting.

"Adee!" Andromeda's former best friend snapped. "Are you coming?"

Adee quickly turned around. "Coming!" she called, taking off down the hallway.

Andromeda stood watching, feeling sick to her stomach, as the three girls took off to together, laughing about some joke Andromeda wasn't in on.

* * *

Ted looked up as Andromeda walked slowly down to the Great Hall, dropping into the seat beside him.

"Hey," he greeted her, his mouth full of food.

She didn't answer him, just stared forlornly at the Slytherin table.

"I wish I could just get out of here," she murmured. "Just run away from all of this and never look back."

"We just have one more term," he reminded her. "Six months."

"It can't come soon enough."

He wished he had the courage to ask her if she wanted to run away with him, if she pictured them having any kind of a future at all. They never seemed to talk about that – the future. Like both of them hoped that if they ignored the problem, it would mean that it didn't exist at all.

But he stayed silent.

* * *

Andromeda and Narcissa stood in the foyer of their house. Andromeda had used Side-Along Apparition to get the two of them home from King's Cross, which had been a rather uncomfortable experience considering Narcissa hadn't spoken to her since she had begun dating Ted.

Andromeda looked around. She had forgotten how intimidating this place looked. With marble pillars and huge fireplaces. There was nothing cozy about it, nothing homey. It was nothing like Ted's house, with its hard wood floors and homemade throw pillows.

"My darlings!" Druella Black exclaimed, swooping into the room and engulfing them into a hug.

"Hello, Mother," they chorused.

She pulled back and looked them over. "You girls get more and more beautiful by the day," she said, ushering them into the sitting room. "Now, I was just about to go to a luncheon, but I think I have a few minutes to squeeze in for you before I leave."

"A few minutes to squeeze in for your own daughters?" Andromeda muttered. "How generous."

"Don't be insolent, Andromeda," her mother scolded her. "It's not ladylike."

"Now sit, sit," she insisted, waving her hand in the general direction of several chintz armchairs. "I want to hear all about those boyfriends of yours. How are Radulf and Lucius?"

So she didn't know. She thought that Andromeda was still the perfect pure-blood daughter with the perfect pure-blood boyfriend.

Narcissa shot her a look, but Andromeda narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

"Radulf is doing really well," she told her mother.

"How wonderful," she said. "We'll have to talk about your…future together at some point."

_Your future together._ She meant wedding plans of course. Andromeda half-listened as Narcissa gushed about Lucius, wondering how in the world she was going to sort all this out without revealing anything about Ted.

"Well, it's been wonderful catching up," her mother said after a few minutes, standing up. She caught sight of her reflection on the mirror and immediately her hands flew to her perfectly coiffed hair, smoothing down the non-existent stray hairs.

"How do I look?" she asked them.

"You look beautiful, Mother," said Narcissa. "Right, Dromeda?"

"Yes, of course," said Andromeda. "Stunning."

Druella smiled, and then, after one last glance in the mirror and an air kiss for her two daughters, she disappeared out the door.

After she had gone, Narcissa turned to Andromeda, an accusatory look on her face. "Why did you lie to her about Radulf?" she hissed.

"I didn't lie," Andromeda responded calmly. "All I said was that he's doing well, which is true."

"You didn't tell her that he's not your boyfriend, though, which means you lied."

"That's not lying. That's withholding the truth."

"Same thing!" Narcissa exclaimed, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder and placing her hands on her hips. Her eyes flashed and she looked eerily like Bellatrix in that moment, even though, for sisters, the two of them didn't usually look much alike at all.

"It is not! Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"I think she'll notice that something's up when, instead of marrying Radulf, you marry that Tonks boy!" Narcissa shot back.

"Who says that I'm going to marry Ted?"

"Well, aren't you?"

"I…I don't know," she stammered in reply.

Suddenly all Andromeda wanted to do was lay down in her own bed, maybe have one of the house-elves bring her a cup of hot cocoa, and spend the rest of evening reading novels, without having to speak to anyone else.

"Don't know what?" a voice behind her asked.

She whipped around. Her sister Bellatrix was standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Andromeda asked.

"Well, hello to you to, Dromeda," Bellatrix replied, entering the room and sitting down beside her two sisters.

Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Hello, Bella."

"If you must know," Bellatrix replied, "I'm having dinner here tonight and I figured I'd come early to visit with my two lovely sisters."

"Will Rodolphus be joining us?" Narcissa asked.

Bellatrix shook her head. "I've left him at home," she said. "Sometimes a girl needs a break from her husband."

"A break?" Andromeda asked. "Can it really be considered a break when you're never together?"

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Andromeda replied, as innocently as possible. "Nothing at all."

It was no secret that Bellatrix Lestrange did not love her husband, that she married him because it was a good match and nothing more. The sad part was, Rodolphus didn't seem to have any idea that his wife practically despised him. He reminded Andromeda a bit of India's conquests in that way, blindly in love with a girl who couldn't care less.

"Now, tell me," Bellatrix said, "what was it the two of you were talking about when I came in? You said you didn't know something, Dromeda."

"We were talking about our boyfriends," Narcissa told her. "Dromeda said that she doesn't know if she wants to marry hers."

Andromeda noticed that Narcissa didn't name specify which boyfriend.

"You don't want to marry Radulf?" asked Bellatrix. "Mother won't be pleased."

"Yeah, well," Andromeda snapped, "there are more important things in the world than pleasing Mother, aren't there?"

Bellatrix laughed, a high-pitched, unpleasant sound. She lifted her arm to brush her wild curls from her face and her sleeve slipped down her arm, revealing a strange tattoo-like marking. A skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.

Narcissa gasped. "What's that, Bella?"

"The Dark Mark," Andromeda answered for her, recognizing the symbol from what she'd been told about it, mostly from India and Radulf.

"The Dark Lord's mark," Bellatrix added proudly. "All his Death Eaters get one."

"So, you've joined up, have you?" Andromeda asked.

"Obviously."

"Lucius is always talking about how he wants to join up after he graduates," Narcissa said.

"I would assume that Radulf wants to as well," Bellatrix said, looking straight at Andromeda.

"He may have mentioned it," she replied coolly. "Though not nearly as much as India."

"I've always liked India," Bellatrix said.

Andromeda couldn't help but think that wasn't much of a surprise at all. They were practically the same person in so many ways.

"I'm going up to my room," she said, standing up. "I have a headache and want to be alone. Tell Blinky to bring me some tea."

Narcissa followed Andromeda out of the room. "You need to tell them the truth," she said. "All of them have the right to know that you're dating a _mudblood_!"

"Leave me alone, Cissy!" Andromeda snapped. "Don't be such a nosy little bitch."

* * *

Dinner that night started out as a silent affair. Nobody said much at all, except to ask for something to be passed or to comment on the weather.

Finally, Druella broke the silence to ask about Radulf. "Has he mentioned anything to you about his plans for after graduation? Do you think he'll want to get married right away or wait a bit?"

Andromeda muttered something about waiting, staring down at her plate the entire time.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Narcissa exclaimed loudly. "If you're not going to tell them, I am."

"Tell us what?" her mother asked.

"Andromeda isn't dating Radulf. They broke up in June, before the summer holidays even began."

"But…that's impossible," Druella stammered, turning to look at her middle daughter. "You spent the summer at his house."

"No, she didn't," Narcissa said. "She spent it with Ted Tonks, who she's now dating!"

"Who in the world is Ted Tonks?" Bellatrix asked, setting down her fork.

"Some random Hufflepuff," Narcissa replied. "His parents are muggles!"

Everyone turned to stare at Andromeda, even her father, who hardly ever looked up from his evening paper at dinner.

"You're dating a mudblood?" Bellatrix snarled. "Have you lost your fucking mind?"

"Bellatrix, watch your language," her mother scolded half-heartedly, obviously not too worried about her eldest daughter's not so lady-like language with everything else that was going on.

"Yes, I am," Andromeda replied, looking directly at Bellatrix. "What are you going to do about it?"

Bellatrix rolled up her sleeves, revealing the Dark Mark that was branded into her skin. "I think there's a lot I can do about it," she said, her voice low and threatening.

"You can't hurt him!" Andromeda shouted. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, wouldn't I?"

"You're a bitch!" Andromeda snarled.

"That's enough!" Cygnus Black roared, speaking for the first time since dinner had started. "Andromeda and Narcissa, go up to their rooms. Bellatrix, head home. Everyone cool off and we'll discuss this in the morning."

"But –" Bellatrix began.

"Now!" he ordered.

The three girls stood up angrily, marching out of the dining room. Bellatrix immediately turned on her heel and Disapparated. Andromeda headed for the staircase, pointedly ignoring Narcissa.

"Andromeda!" Narcissa called, chasing her up the stairs. "Andromeda, wait. I need to talk to you!"

"What?" Andromeda snapped, whirling around when she reached the top of the stairs. "What could you possibly have to say to me?"

"I'm sorry!" her younger sister wailed. "I didn't mean to tell them! It just slipped out, I swear. I was mad that you called me a bitch and it just came out."

"Well, I hope you're happy. Bella is probably going to hurt him now. Is that what you wanted?"

"No, of course not! I wish I hadn't said anything."

Andromeda closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I really am sorry," Narcissa whispered.

"Me too, Cissy," Andromeda said, opening her eyes. "Me too."

* * *

**Uh oh! Things are really heating up!**

**Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

When Andromeda awoke the next morning, it took her a couple minutes to remember what had happened the night before. When it all came rushing back, she sighed heavily, wishing there was a way that she could just lay in bed for the rest of the holidays and never have to deal with her family – especially Bellatrix – again.

"Andromeda!" her mother shouted through the door. "Come downstairs as soon as you can. We have a lot to discuss."

She climbed out of bed, taking as long as possible to put on the clothes one of the house-elves had laid out for her the night before.

"Andromeda!"

"Coming!" she called back, smoothing down her wild curls.

She walked over to the door, took a deep breath, and stepped outside. She descended the stairs slowly and made her way into the dining room. Her entire family was sitting around the huge table in the center of the room. They stared at her, with various degrees of animosity, as she entered.

"Sit down, Andromeda," her mother said briskly, motioning to the empty seat next to Bellatrix.

She sat, avoiding eye contact with her older sister, whose angry glare she could almost feel burning into the side of her head.

Several house-elves emerged from the kitchen, carrying dishes of food.

"Thank you, Blinky," said Andromeda politely, as the elf loaded her plate with sausage.

Blinky looked up at her in surprise, her round eyes wide. It occurred to Andromeda that she had never actually thanked any of them before, at least not that she could remember.

Druella shooed them away. "Get out!" she snapped. "We have things to discuss."

"Sorry, sorry," they squeaked, hurriedly backing out of the room.

"Useless little creatures," Bellatrix said, rolling her eyes.

"Really?" Andromeda asked angrily. "So you'd have no problem if we freed them all? You'd do all the cooking and cleaning yourself, would you?"

Bellatrix laughed bitterly. "What in the world's happened to, Dromeda? First you're dating a mudblood and now you're all for house-elf rights? You're really turning into a blood traitor, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Andromeda shouted.

"Stop fighting!" Druella ordered. "We need to discuss this rationally."

Andromeda and Bellatrix both crossed their arms and sat back in their seats, pouting in a nearly identical manner.

"Now," their mother said, "Andromeda, I am asking this for your own sake. End this little tryst immediately. Go back to Radulf. Narcissa tells me that he still wants you back, though why is beyond me."

Andromeda shot her younger sister the nastiest look she could manage. Narcissa ducked her head and continued eating her eggs.

"It's not a _tryst_, Mother," Andromeda said quietly. "I love him."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" her father shouted, slamming down his glass. "Listen to your mother, you ungrateful girl! We've given you everything, do you hear me? Everything! How could you betray us in this manner? If you do not end things with this boy immediately, we will disinherit you! We did not raise you to throw your life away like this!"

Andromeda briefly wondered in what world he and her mother had "given her everything." Material possessions, yes. She'd never had a shortage of pretty dresses and expensive jewelry. She lived in a big house with house-elves to do her every bidding. But her parents had never given anything she truly needed. The kind of unconditional love she saw in Mr. and Mrs. Tonks' eyes every time they looked at their son. Their pride in his achievements, no matter how small or insignificant. They didn't care who he dated, as long as he was happy. They didn't worry about family honor and tradition. Ted was not rich. He was not spoiled. He had always had to work hard. But his parents had given him so much more than hers ever had.

"Fine!" she replied. "Have Aunt Walburga blast me off the family tapestry! Throw me out of the house! I don't care if you disinherit me!"

Her mother gasped, clutching her hands to her heart. Andromeda couldn't help but think that she was probably more upset about the scandal all this would cause than about actually losing her daughter.

"Get. Out. Now." Cygnus Black's voice was low, but no one could mistake the anger that reverberated with every word.

"Fine," she said coolly, standing up. "Merry Christmas, everyone."

It was hard to believe that the next day was Christmas Eve. There was no holiday spirit in this house, that was for sure. Maybe she'd go to Ted's house. She could picture what it probably looked like. Wreaths and lights and a tree with presents piled underneath it. And not the kind of tree that was currently standing in the Black's foyer – 18 feet tall with expensive ornaments and fancy gifts. No, she imagined that the Tonks' tree was a little on the short side, maybe even a little lopsided, with homemade ornaments and strands of popcorn wrapped around it. The presents underneath it probably weren't expensive or fancy, but had surely been picked out with great care.

"Wait!" Bellatrix called, interrupting her thoughts.

Andromeda stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What?"

"I'll make you a deal," her sister said. "If you end things with this mudblood, I promise I won't do anything to physically hurt him." She paused, looking directly into her younger sister's eyes. "But you stay with him and I make no such promise."

Andromeda stood frozen to the ground, letting her sister's words sink in. She felt like she going to throw up. How could she say no? She couldn't bear to put Ted in harm's way. It would be completely selfish. If she walked out now and went to his house, there was no guarantee that Bellatrix wouldn't find him and do something horrible.

"Fine," she said stiffly, feeling close to tears. "I'll break up with him. But you have to promise not to hurt him, Bella."

"I won't go near him," Bellatrix said, "but you have to break off all contact with him. Don't speak to him. Make him think you've lost all interest. Do you understand?"

_No. No. No. I love him. I love him. I love him._

"Yes," she replied quietly, ignoring the voice in the back of her head, the one that was frantic, the one that screaming in protest.

"Then it's a deal."

Andromeda turned to look at her father. "So I can stay?" she asked quietly, wishing more than anything she didn't have to.

He nodded, his head already buried in his newspaper. Because that's what Cygus Black III did. He retreated. Any moment now, he'd probably make himself a drink and disappear into his study.

She sat down. "Can somebody pass the eggs, please?"

* * *

On Christmas day, the entire extended Black family came for dinner. As the house-elves slaved over the food in the kitchen, everyone gathered in the sitting room to catch up.

"Andromeda!"

Andromeda's favorite cousin, Sirius, came running over. His dark hair fell into his eyes and his piercing grey eyes were alight with their usual mischievous twinkle. He was only eleven, not yet a student at Hogwarts, but Andromeda could already tell that one day he'd be very handsome.

"Hey," she said, smiling for the first time all day and scooting over so there was room for him to sit next to her. He immediately launched into a long story about some sort of prank he'd played on his family's house-elf, Kreacher. Considering her newfound appreciation for house-elves and the work they did, Andromeda knew she should object to her cousin's behavior, but she didn't. Because, quite frankly, Kreacher was a nasty piece of work, always skulking about, muttering about this or that, sending dirty looks in her general direction. She couldn't stand him.

Sirius's little brother, Regulus, came scampering over and climbed into Andromeda's lap. He was nine years old and, in Andromeda's honest opinion, the cutest little boy in the world. Rosy cheeks and dimples. Shaggy, black hair. Always giggling about something. He still had that child-like innocence that Andromeda sometimes missed dreadfully.

"Look what Bella drew on my arm!" he exclaimed excitedly, rolling up his sleeve and revealing a hand-drawn Dark Mark.

Andromeda was furious. "Bella did this?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "She said it's something that I can strive for!"

Andromeda doubted that he even knew what 'strive for' meant. She looked over at Sirius, who was eyeing his brother's arm with a mixture of disgust and amusement.

"Well, this proves one thing for sure," he said after a moment.

"That Bellatrix is a vile human being?" Andromeda asked.

"Well, maybe," said Sirius with a shrug. "But I was just going to say that it shows she obviously can't draw to save her life. I thought that was one-legged octopus at first. Or a balloon."

He said it casually, as if the whole thing was a joke, but Andromeda could see that the usual twinkle in his eyes had dimmed, clouded by a concern that seemed beyond his years.

"Take your brother to the bathroom and wash this off," Andromeda told him. "I want to have a word with my dear sister."

She sat on the couch for a moment, watching as they made their way across the room, hand in hand. What did the future have in store for them? She tried to imagine Sirius – fun-loving, carefree Sirius – as a Death Eater. It seemed impossible that he could ever allow himself to feel that kind of bitterness, that kind of hatred. And yet, it was what was expected of him. And Regulus, only nine years old and already being pushed into something he didn't understand. How could he – how could either of them – turn their back on their destiny? When you grow up being told to do something, to be someone, you do it, you become that person. Sirius and Regulus were on the path that was already paved for them. What choice did they have? What choice did any of them have? She had tried to turn her back on all of, had tried to make her own path, but look at how that had turned out. She had been forced back onto the right one, had been put back in her place. She no longer could have what made her different, what made her a threat to everything the Black family held dear.

Maybe she just didn't have a choice. Maybe she would become what she was supposed to. Maybe she would be the perfect pure-blood girl with a respectable pure-blood husband, after all. Maybe there really was no way to escape one's destiny.

With all these thoughts weighing on her mind, she stood up and made her way across the room to where Bellatrix was sitting.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'd like a word."

Bellatrix's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yes," Andromeda replied. "_Alone."_

Bellatrix followed her out into the foyer. She stood there, arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. "Will this take long? I was having a lovely conversation with Aunt Walburga before you interrupted?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Andromeda snarled, completely ignoring her sister's question.

Bellatrix looked taken aback, but quickly recovered. "What are referring to?" she asked haughtily. "If this is about your boyfriend, I think I've made it clear that –"

"This isn't about Ted. This is about Regulus!"

"Regulus? You mean my little drawing?"

"Little drawing?!" Andromeda couldn't believe her ears. "That was the _Dark Mark!"_

"Relax, Dromeda. He saw mine and wanted one of his own. All I did was draw it on with a quill. You're acting like I engraved it in his arm with a knife or something. It will come right off in the bath."

Andromeda opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by her mother.

"Come back inside, girls," she said. "I want to get some photographs."

* * *

At dinner, Andromeda sat in her wooden high back chair and quietly ate her food. She had nothing to add to the conversation. Her parents, grandparents, Aunt Walburga, Uncle Orion, and Bellatrix and Rodolphus were all talking about the _Dark Lord_ and all his wonderful, magnificent plans for a revolution against the Ministry of Magic.

"A war's coming," Bellatrix said excitedly. "That's why Rodolphus and I joined up. We want to be able to fight."

"And put those muggles and mudbloods back in their place," her husband added, his mouth full of turkey. Little bits of meat went flying out of his mouth as he spoke, hitting Narcissa (who was unfortunate enough to be sitting directly across from him) in the face.

"I bet those muggles have better table manners than him," Andromeda's Uncle Alphard muttered from his place beside Andromeda, too quietly for Rodolphus to actually hear. He winked at Andromeda and she grinned.

Alphard was Andomeda's favorite uncle. He lived alone in a big house located a few miles away from hers. When she was younger, she used to walk there with Bellatrix and Narcissa and listen as he told stories about his days at Hogwarts. He always embellished and the three of them knew it, but they loved listening anyway and always pretended to believe him when he talked about wrestling the Giant Squid or fighting off Centaurs in the forest. He used to have a wife, but she had left him years ago, taking their two small daughters with her. Andomreda had never met any of them. As far as she knew, they had moved to France and his daughters (who were a few years older than her) had attended Beauxbatons.

Across the table from Andromeda, Sirius was doing an eerily accurate impression of Rodolphus. He stuffed as much food in his mouth as possible and waved his hands around in the air enthusiastically, going slightly cross-eyed, a stupid expression on his face. Regulus cackled into his napkin, and Narcissa let out a snort of laughter that she quickly tried to hide by stuffing a large spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth.

"Sirius!" Andromeda's mother snapped, causing him to quickly lower his arms and spit his food out into napkin.

"Yes?" he asked, folding his hands in his lap and looking at his aunt as innocently as possible.

"Are you excited about finally becoming a Slytherin next year?" she asked.

Before he could respond, Andromeda spoke up for the first time during the meal. "How do you know he'll be a Slytherin?" she demanded angrily.

Everyone turned to look at her, shocked expressions on their faces. Uncle Alphard chuckled quietly. Aunt Walburga let out a yelp. Her grandfather choked on his stuffing. Andromeda's mother gave him a firm whack him on the back and a piece of food went flying out of his mouth, hitting poor Narcissa in the face. Her father poured himself a drink, downed it, and then poured another. Sirius tilted back in his chair, smirking as he took in the spectacle that was taking place in front of him, as if the whole thing was happening for his own personal amusement.

"That's ridiculous," Aunt Walburga said, recovering from her initial shock. "Of course my son's going to in Slytherin. He's a Black, for Merlin's sake."

"So what?" Andromeda responded. "He'd make an excellent Ravenclaw or Gryffindor too."

Walburga turned to look at her son. "Tell your cousin that you're going to be in Slytherin, Sirius. Tell her she's being ridiculous."

Sirius merely shrugged. "Well, seeing as I haven't been blessed with the ability to see into the future like all of you seem to have been, I'm going to have to agree with Andromeda on this one. I don't know what House I'll be in and I won't until that Sorting Hat is placed on my head."

His mother's eyes narrowed. "This is your daughter's fault," she snarled at Druella. "You let the little skank run around with that mudblood scum and now she's putting ideas in my son's head."

"How dare you!" Andromeda's mother said quietly, her eyes flashing with anger. "How dare you insult my daughter in my home!"

"Andromeda hasn't put any ideas in my head!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly, his casual demeanor disappearing for the first time that day. "All I said was that I won't know what House I'll be in until I get sorted, and I figured that out all by myself, shockingly enough!"

The entire table was staring at him, in the same way they'd been staring at Andromeda a few minutes earlier.

"Besides," he continued, "if Bellatrix is allowed to put ideas in Regulus's head, than I don't see why Andromeda shouldn't be allowed to do the same to me."

"That's hardly the same –"

"She drew the Dark Mark on his arm." Sirius's face was red now." The Dark Mark! He's only nine, for fuck's sake!"

"And you're only eleven," his mother replied, the vein in her forehead bulging. "Much too young for that sort of language!"

"But not too young to hear about how muggles and mudbloods are scum? About how they should all be enslaved or tortured or killed?"

"I will not have a blood traitor in my family!" Walburga hissed, standing up. "Come on, Orion," she said to her husband. "We're taking Sirius and Regulus home."

Andromeda watched as the crowd at the table began to disperse. First her aunt and uncle and two cousins left in a huff. Then her father, drink in hand, disappeared into his study, muttering under his breath about how he hated the holidays. Next her grandparents Disapparated, and Uncle Alphard followed shortly thereafter. Soon it was only Andromeda, her mother, her two sisters, and Rodolphus.

"Well," said Bellatrix brusquely, "Rodolphus and I should be going too. Merry Christmas, everyone."

She hugged her mother and Narcissa, but when she got to Andromeda she awkwardly shifted back and forth for a second, before blurting out, "Remember what you have to do!"

Andromeda remembered. She had to break up with Ted. She had to purposely break her own heart.

Merry Christmas indeed.

* * *

That night, Andromeda tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. All she could think about was Ted. About how much she missed him. About what she would have to do when she finally went back to school.

Finally, she gave up on sleeping and got out of bed. She tiptoed over to her wardrobe. Opening its doors, she rummaged through until she found some muggle clothes, which she quickly pulled on.

"You're going to go see him, aren't you?"

Andromeda quickly spun around. Narcissa was standing in her doorway wearing a nightgown, her long blonde hair pulled into a braid.

Cissy!" she hissed. "You scared me to death! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

Her sister's brow furrowed and she tightly clutched the necklace that hung around her neck. Andromeda recognized it as the gift she had received from Lucius.

"You love him, right?" she asked her sister. "Lucius, I mean."

Narcissa looked confused. "Yes, of course."

"I hope he makes you happy," she whispered. "I truly do."

Narcissa looked at Andromeda, taking in the faded jeans and worn T-shirt that belonged to Ted.

"You're coming back, right?" she asked.

"Yes," Andromeda responded. "Yes, of course I'm coming back. I don't have a choice do I?"

She wished she didn't have to. She wished she could run off with Ted and never come back. But she couldn't. Not with Bellatrix's threat hanging over her head.

"I suppose not," her sister murmured.

"Are you going to tell on me?"

Narcissa shook her head.

Wordlessly, Andromeda grabbed a coat and spun on her heel, disappearing from sight.

* * *

Ted was just about to go to sleep when he heard a knocking on his bedroom window. He hurried over and pulled it open. Andromeda was crouched on his roof, shivering.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, as she climbed inside, tracking snow onto his floor.

"I missed you," she replied, sitting down on his bed and smiling up at him. "I wanted to see you."

He sat down beside her and kissed her neck. "I missed you too," he murmured against the soft skin of her throat.

"Ted," she said, pushing him away, a serious expression on her face. "I was kind of hoping we could just talk. It's been a bad day."

"A bad day?" he asked. "But it's Christmas."

"Yeah, well…" She trailed off and looked at him. "Tell me about your day then. I need to get my mind off everything."

"Alright," he said, laying his head back against his pillow. She snuggled against him, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

"It was just me, my parents, my sister, and her American boyfriend for Christmas dinner," he told her. "Shannon met him when she was in the States over the summer. His name's Mike and he's a hippie."

"A hippie?"

"Yeah, you know, he's got long hair, looks unwashed, smells like pot, spends a lot of time talking about how the Vietnam war is evil. My parents weren't exactly thrilled when my sister brought him home. But they got over it when it became obvious how much he loves her, and now I think they really like him."

Andromeda opened her eyes. She looked sad.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about how different your parents are from mine. My parents don't care how much I love you; they'll never be okay with you. And you don't even smell like pot." She sniffed. "Much."

"I guess I've spent too much time around Mike," he said, chuckling.

She didn't respond and he could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"Andromeda?" he said worriedly.

"I'm fine," she said wiping her eyes. "But I should go."

"Go?" he asked. "You just got here."

"Yeah, I know, but I don't want my parents noticing that I'm gone."

She stood up, smoothing down her T-shirt and pulling on her coat. He watched her from his place on his bed. She was so beautiful.

"Can you do one thing before I go?" she whispered.

"Anything."

"Kiss me."

He didn't have to be told twice. In an instant, he was standing beside her, his hands cupping her face, pressing his lips to hers.

* * *

Andromeda kissed him back with everything she had. She needed this kiss to tell him everything she couldn't say out loud. That she was sorry for what she was going to have to do. That she wanted, more than anything, to stay like this forever, wrapped in his arms. That she needed him to remember this moment when she ended things between them. Remember how this felt. Remember how she loved him and he loved her. Remember how, right then, it seemed like there was nothing that could tear them apart, like they would be together until the end of time and then some, the only two people left in the universe. She wondered if he could taste the sadness on her lips, the bitterness and the heartbreak. The love. The goodbyes.

When they finally pulled apart, after what could have been years or decades or centuries, but what was probably only minutes, he looked at her with such an intense expression that she wanted to cling to him and never let go.

"Wow," he said, breathlessly. "That was… wow."

She smiled sadly. "Goodbye, Ted."

* * *

**Please review, everyone! Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I'm more motivated to write. And that means I update sooner ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

All throughout the feast that took the place the evening everyone returned to school, Ted tried to get Andromeda's attention. He was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, surrounded by his friends, and she was at the Slytherin table, sitting alone. Every time he'd make eye contact with her, she'd hastily look away and attempt to make conversation with a couple of alarmed looking first years sitting a few seats away from her.

Puzzled, he eventually gave up. He'd find her afterward and sort things out. She couldn't be mad at him, could she? The last time he'd talked to her was on Christmas when she'd shown up at his house and she certainly hadn't been mad at him then…

As he was walking out of the Great Hall after dinner, she found him in the crowd.

"Hey," he said, grinning. "I was trying to get your attention at –"

"We need to talk," she said, cutting him off. She wasn't looking directly at him, but over his shoulder, as if the flaming torches on the walls were suddenly the most interesting things in the world.

"Oh," he said. "Okay, then."

He waited for her to continue, but she stayed silent, continuing to stare past him.

"Did you mean now?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes," she said quickly, seeming to snap out of whatever sort of trance she'd been in seconds earlier. She looked directly at him for the first time all evening and lifted the corner of her mouth for a fleeting second, in what he supposed was her attempt at a smile.

"Let's go to my common room," she suggested.

Before he could say anything, she had taken off up the marble staircase at a much quicker pace than usual. He had to run to catch up with her and when he did, she continued staring straight ahead, as if he wasn't even there.

"Can you tell me what this is about?" he asked.

He couldn't help but think that something was very wrong and that annoyed him because he had no idea what it could actually be. She was behaving so strangely and it was starting to piss him off.

She shook her head. "We'll talk in a minute," she said, turning a corner quickly, her robes whipping out of sight.

A minute later, they arrived at the giant portrait of a wheezy old wizard and his plump wife. Andromeda murmured the password, a scowl on her face, and it swung open.

"Ooh, she looks mad," the old wizard said, after she had climbed through. "Trouble in paradise, eh?"

"Shut up," Ted muttered, as he followed her through. He heard the wizard give an indignant _hrmph_ as the portrait swung shut behind him.

Andromeda was standing in the room, hands on her hips. The Head Boy, a quiet Ravenclaw named Alfred, was sitting in one of the armchairs, his head – as always – buried in a book.

"Excuse me, Al," Andromeda said. "But would you mind leaving? Ted and I need to talk."

Alfred looked up, startled, as if he hadn't realized they were there. His glassed slipped down his long nose and he quickly pushed them back up.

"Andromeda," Ted said. "You don't have to kick him out of his own common room. We can go talk in your bedroom."

"I want to talk here," she snapped.

There was a sort of hysterical edge to her voice that Ted hadn't noticed before, like any minute she might burst into tears.

"Alright, alright," he said quickly. He turned to look at Alfred. "Er … listen, mate, I'm sorry about this."

"It's okay," he replied, shutting his book and standing up. "I had been planning to head to the library anyway. Get some studying in."

Ted couldn't imagine what he could possibly have to study. Classes hadn't even started yet.

When he was gone, Ted turned and looked at Andromeda. She was staring at the ground, at a mysterious stain on the carpet that had been there since the beginning of the year.

"Andromeda?"

She looked up, brushing her hair from her eyes. Ted noticed that her skin around her nails was raw and peeling, like she had spent a lot of time picking at them. A far cry from her usually perfectly manicured nails.

"I think we should break up," she blurted out.

Ted froze. "What?"

"I just don't think things are working between us," she continued. Her eyes were darting from the carpet to the wall to the ceiling. Over his shoulder. At his feet. Anywhere but his face, it seemed.

"What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely.

He was so confused. What had brought this on? They had been fine on Christmas. More than fine really, if the way she had kissed him was any indication. What happened between then and now?

"I mean, we were kidding ourselves, weren't we?" she asked. "Me and you? How was that ever going to work? We're from two different worlds."

She was so calm, so ridiculously calm. How was her face was so blank right now, so empty? Was this not hurting her at all?

"So?" he asked. "Who cares if we're from two different worlds? We can make this work, I know we can. I love you, Andromeda. And you love me. Nothing else matters."

He could hear the panic in his voice. Each sentence seemed to come out an octave higher than the last.

"We can make this work," he repeated, when she didn't say anything.

* * *

This wasn't working, Andromeda thought. He wasn't giving up on her easily enough. She needed to say something that would stamp out that bit of desperate hope that was still in his eyes. Ties between them had to be completely severed. She couldn't let there be any loose ends attached to their relationship, any flicker of doubt that things were over between them. Because she had to keep him safe from Bellatrix. She had to be sure that he'd never be hurt by her.

"No," she said firmly.

"Why?"

"Because...because I don't love you."

She felt like someone was twisting a knife into her stomach as she said the words. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away, not wanting to give him any idea about how much this was hurting her.

His face, which had been scrunched up in anger and confusion before, went completely blank. Suddenly she had no idea what he was thinking, if he was thinking anything at all.

When he didn't say anything, she continued. "I don't think I ever loved you really. I loved the _idea _of you. You were off limits and that was fun for a while, being rebellious. But it's gotten boring. _I've_ gotten bored.

"_Bored_?" he asked. His voice was hard, angrier than she'd ever heard it. She instinctively backed away from him.

"Yes," she lied.

She wished she could read the expression on his face, but she couldn't.

"So you don't love me?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head. "No," she whispered, feeling her heart break, shatter into a million pieces. She wondered if his was doing the same thing.

"Well, then," he said, after a moment. "I guess I'll just be going then."

He turned to leave, and the tears in Andromeda's eyes began to fall.

* * *

When he reached the portrait hole, Ted whirled around.

Andromeda was standing in the middle of the room, tears streaming down her face. He couldn't help but wonder bitterly why she was even crying. She didn't even love him. This shouldn't be hurting her like it was hurting him.

"So what now?" he asked, surprised by how sharp his voice sounded.

She let out a strangled sob. "What?"

"What are you going to do now?" he snarled. "Marry Radulf Selwyn and have the _perfect_ wedding ceremony? Have his _perfect_ pure-blood Slytherin children? Kiss his check each morning like the _perfect _pure-blood wife you are, before he leaves to go torture some muggles or do whatever it is Death Eaters do?"

She flinched each time he spat out the word 'perfect', shrinking away from the venom in his voice, her tears falling faster now. Her face was red and scrunched up, mascara running in rivulets down her cheeks.

He used to think that Andromeda Black had the perfect life. A big house. Fancy clothes. Devoted friends and loving boyfriend. Parents who spoiled her rotten. House-elves to do her every bidding. But now he realized he was wrong. There was nothing perfect about her life.

_You're not perfect, _he wanted to shout. _Don't you see that? Your life is just as screwed up as the rest of ours, and you're just as ugly when you cry as everyone else!_

He didn't say any of those things though; instead he just looked at her, waiting for her to say something, anything.

"I don't know," was her only reply. "I don't know what I'm going to do!"

He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the portrait swung open. Alfred the Head Boy was standing awkwardly in front of it, looking back and forth between them, no doubt taking in Andromeda's tear-stained face and Ted's angry scowl.

"Er," he said, his face turning red. "Sorry, I, er…I forgot my Transfiguration textbook. But that's okay; I'll just come back for it later."

He quickly turned to leave, but Ted stopped him.

"I was just leaving," he told him. "Go get your book."

Then, without a look back at Andromeda, he pushed past Alfred and out the portrait hole, letting it slam shut behind him.

* * *

Andromeda wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Alfred was staring at her, and she could see the sympathy in his eyes. He felt sorry for her. _Alfred Rabnott_ felt sorry for _her_. How ridiculous. He was a nobody. A loser. His only friend was an overweight fifth year named Philbert who followed him around the library, puffing on his inhaler. Someone like that had no right to feel sorry for _Andromeda Black._

She pulled herself up to her full height, squared her shoulders, and marched out of the portrait hole. Without even realizing where she was headed, she managed to end up in the dungeons, in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Once inside, she stood alone in the corner, taking everything in. She hadn't been in there all year. She'd had no reason to, after losing all her friends. There was nobody to visit, to gossip with, to do homework with. Nothing had changed, of course. The room had the same greenish tint it had always had. The same green and black leather sofas and Medieval tapestries. Somehow, though, it seemed darker than before. More eerie and cold. Less welcoming. She shivered.

She spotted India laying on one of the couches, her head resting in the lap of a seventh year Slytherin boy named Xander. She had dumped Tim before the Christmas holidays and had, of course, already moved on.

"Andromeda?"

A voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she turned her head to find Radulf standing a few feet away from her.

"Hello," she murmured, realizing for the first time that he was the reason she had come here. Subconsciously, she had been trying to find a friendly face.

"Have you been crying?" he asked, his handsome face filled with concern.

For a minute, she considered shaking her head and leaving, going back to her room, lying down, and crying herself to sleep. But then she realized that she really needed someone to talk to and this boy standing next to her was really the only one who would listen.

"I broke up with Ted," she whispered. The words felt strange on her tongue. She wished more than anything that they weren't true.

Radulf looked shocked. "Why?" he asked.

"Bella…Bellatrix told me…She told me if I didn't that she'd hurt him."

His green eyes widened. "That's awful."

Andromeda looked up at him. "Do you really think so?" she asked, her voice quiet. She felt as if all her tears had been used up and all her emotions drained, and all that was felt was a calm sort of emptiness and a hole in her heart.

"Of course," he said, looking at her strangely.

"But why?" she persisted. "You're going to be a Death Eater too, aren't you? You're going to hurt muggleborns and muggles. Do the same sort of awful things as Bellatrix. Why is this any different?"

Radulf was silent for a long time, staring into space, at nothing at all.

"I don't know," he finally said.

It wasn't much of an answer, but Andromeda knew that it was probably the only answer he had. There were so many things they did – so many things they believed – that didn't seem to have any real basis, any real explanation.

"And what about me?" she asked. "Do I have any right to think it's awful? After all, I'm probably going to end up marrying you – or someone like you – and watch you go off every day to do You-Know-Who's bidding. That's my destiny, isn't it? Being the perfect pure-blood wife to a Death Eater. I don't have a choice.

"That's not true," Radulf said sharply. "Everyone has a choice. You just have to be brave enough to make the right one."

"Are you?" she asked. "Are you brave enough to make the right choice?"

"Me?" he asked, chuckling bitterly. "No, I don't think so."

"You could," she said. "You don't have to become a Death Eater. You could leave it all behind, become a teacher or –"

"No," he said again. "I don't think so." He turned to look at her, his eyes sad. "You are brave enough, though, Andromeda. You're brave enough to make the right choice."

She smiled faintly, for what felt like the first time in ages. "Maybe," she murmured.

They were both quiet for a moment, standing there in the corner, away from everyone else.

"I could use a friend," Andromeda finally said, breaking the silence. "Would you be okay with being my friend?"

"It would be my pleasure," he said, tipping an imaginary hat in her direction.

She grinned. "No trying to kiss me this time. Promise?"

"I promise."

* * *

**I would tell you that things will get better soon, but I'd probably be lying.**

**Review, please?**


	10. Chapter 10

_Bella,_

_I did what you told me to. I broke up with Ted. Things are completely over between us. He won't speak to me. I think he hates me. I hope you're happy._

_Love always,_

_Andromeda_

* * *

_Dromeda,_

_I knew you'd do the right thing, darling._

_Love always,_

_Bella_

* * *

Andromeda hadn't meant to sign her letter to Bellatrix with 'love always.' She hadn't even realized she'd done it until after she'd already sent it. She'd done it out of habit, as a sort of instinct. It was how she and her sisters had always signed their letters to each other, ever since they were little.

* * *

"Well, Andromeda sure moved on fast," Ted's friend John said the next morning at breakfast.

"What?"

"Look behind you. She's sitting with Radulf Selwyn."

Ted spun around in his seat. Sure enough, Andromeda and Radulf were sitting across from one another at the Slytherin table, their heads bent close together as they both examined an article in the Daily Prophet.

Ted turned back around and stared down at his cereal, his appetite suddenly gone.

"Cheer up, mate," John said, his mouth full of toast. "You're well rid of her in my opinion."

Ted didn't reply.

"I mean, you two broke up last night and she's already gone back to Mr. Future Death Eater over there. What does that say about her?"

Ted shrugged. He honestly wasn't sure what that said about her. He wasn't sure about anything when it came to her anymore. She'd lied about loving him, lied about everything.

"I just really loved her," he whispered, more to himself than to John.

John just patted him on the back. "Cheer up," he said again. "And guess who's totally checking you out right now?"

"Unless it's Andromeda, I don't really care," he said sadly.

"No, you git. Tammy."

Ted glanced down the table to where Tammy Dobbs was sitting with her friends. She was a sixth year Hufflepuff with a…bit of a reputation. Sure enough, she was looking right back at him, a pouty little smile on her glossy lips. She gave him a wink and then stood up, sauntering over to where the two of them were sitting.

"Hello, boys," she purred, sitting down across from them and leaning forward to display her ample...assets.

"Hello!" John said enthusiastically, a dopey grin on his face.

She ignored him, focusing her blue eyes on Ted instead. "I hear you're newly single," she said, her voice low and seductive.

"I, erm…yeah," he replied, squirming in his seat.

"You should accompany on the Hogsmeade trip next Saturday," she said. "I could…help you get your mind off things."

"I don't really think that's a good idea," Ted replied. "Andromeda and I just broke up and I'm not really ready to – Ow!"

John had kicked him under the table. Ted glared at him, but he merely shrugged and shot him an Are-You-Crazy-Say-Yes-Right-Now look.

Ted looked back at Tammy. She was gorgeous, no doubt about it. But in a completely different way than Andromeda. While Andromeda had a natural, classic beauty about her – pale skin and curly chestnut hair that fell in waves down her back – much of Tammy's appeal seemed to come from a bottle. She was all peroxide and self tanner and caked-on makeup. None of her seemed quite natural. Back in their early years at Hogwarts she had been a scrawny little thing with mousy brown hair and freckles. But then in their fifth year, she had come back to school looking like this. Ted remembered hearing girls whispering in the corridors as she passed by, making catty remarks and speculating about whether her breasts were real.

Still, Tammy was nice enough and Ted figured that it couldn't hurt to get his mind off Andromeda. She had moved on already, so why shouldn't he?

"On second thought," he said, "that sounds like fun."

"Oh, believe me," she replied, "it will be."

"You're one lucky bloke," John said, after Tammy had gone back to her friends. "I heard she gets down on her knees on the first date and spreads her legs on the second."

Ted tried to imagine doing anything with a girl who wasn't Andromeda, but couldn't. Still, he knew he would have to at some point. He couldn't just become a monk for the rest of his like because some girl had broken his heart when he was seventeen.

"That's vulgar!" their friend Cecilia said, sitting down in the seat Tammy had just abandoned. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, John Abbott, talking about the poor girl like that."

John's face turned red. "Sorry," he muttered.

John and Cecilia were utterly in love with each other, but both of them were entirely too dense to do anything about it.

* * *

"I can't believe Ted is dating Tammy Dobbs," Andromeda said through gritted teeth, a few weeks later at lunch.

Radulf glanced over his shoulder at the Hufflepuff table. "She seems too clingy," he said. "I couldn't deal with it."

"She follows him around like a lovesick puppy dog all the damn time. It's pathetic!"

Radulf chuckled. "Somebody sounds jealous."

"I just don't understand why he would go for someone like her. She's so...so…_blonde_."

"Blonde?" Radulf's eyebrows shot up.. "You don't like her because she's blonde?"

"His muggle ex-girlfriend was blonde too," she replied, her eyes still glued to the Hufflepuff table. "Maybe blonde girls are his type. I'm surprised he didn't go after Narcissa instead of me."

"I don't think Lucius would have been pleased about that," Radulf said. "He needs to keep Narcissa around to ensure that his future son is blond."

"How do you think the Malfoys do it?" Andromeda asked, temporarily distracted from Ted and Tammy. "How do they only have blond sons?"

"Maybe there's something shady behind it," Radulf replied. "Like if they have a girl, they sell her on the black market."

"Or they feed her to wolves," Andromeda added with a giggle.

"Maybe they just hide their daughters in the cellar," Radulf suggested. "Maybe Lucius has sisters and they've all been kept a secret for years." He paused. "Maybe there are a few dark-haired boys down there too."

"Yeah, they probably feed them stale bread crusts and rainwater."

It was moments like this that Andromeda was glad that Radulf was her friend. It was nice to have someone who could distract her from the debacle that was Ted and Tammy and all the horrible alliteration of their first names.

* * *

The next morning, Ted made his way to Potions class. He was a little early because he wanted to go over the questions he'd missed on his last test with Slughorn.

"'Scuse me," he said irritably when he reached the door to the classroom and discovered it was being blocked by a giggly couple. He didn't look up from his parchment, but stood waiting for them to relocate.

"Radulf," a girl's voice said. "I have to get to Transfiguration. I don't wanna be late."

Ted's head shot up. Sure enough, Radulf Selwyn was leaning up against the door to the Potions classroom, whispering something in the ear of a sixth year Slytherin girl whose name Ted had forgotten. The girl gave another giggle and then slipped away, disappearing around the corner.

"I need to get in the classroom," Ted muttered. Radulf was still blocking the door.

"Door's locked," Radulf replied. "Slughorn's not here yet. I was wanting to talk to him too."

"Really?" Ted snapped. "Because you looked a little preoccupied with that girl."

Radulf's lip curled, gazing at Ted with an expression that one might use to look at dog shit on the bottom of their shoe. "I was waiting for Slughorn, and Patricia came along to keep me company. Not that it's any of your business."

"Should you really be letting _Patricia_ keep you company when you have a girlfriend?" Ted asked angrily.

Andromeda was such an idiot. Why had she gone back to this creep? He hadn't respected her the first time they had dated and he obviously didn't respect her now.

"What the fuck are you on about, Tonks?" Radulf asked. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"I'm not stupid, Selwyn. I see you with Andromeda all the time."

"Andromeda?" Radulf said, a bemused expression on his face. "She's not my girlfriend. We broke up _last year,_ Tonks. Thought you would have noticed, considering you dated her after me."

"But, you two are back together," Ted sputtered. "Aren't you?"

He tried to remember if there'd been any sort of confirmation that Radulf and Andromeda were a couple again, or if it all been speculation.

"No," Radulf replied. "We're definitely not."

"Oh, well I –"

At that moment, Slughorn appeared.

"Professor!" Radulf exclaimed, the tone of his voice changing from annoyed to charming faster than Ted had thought was possible. "I need to t talk to you about my test. You marked number seven wrong, but I think that if you take a look at it again, you'll find that…"

Radulf and Slughorn disappeared into the classroom, leaving Ted alone in the corridor, clutching his own test.

* * *

"So I explained to him why I thought my answer for number seven was actually right and he ending up agreeing with me. I got the points back."

Ted rolled his eyes, listening to Radulf and Andromeda's conversation that was taking place behind him.

"Radulf's such a fucking know-it-all," he muttered angrily. "It's like it's physically impossible for him to even consider that he might have answered a question wrong."

Tim chuckled. He had gone back to sitting beside Ted once India had dumped him. "But he never_ does_ answer a question wrong," he pointed out.

"I'm sure that's not true," Ted replied.

"I'm not."

* * *

Now that Ted knew that Andromeda and Radulf weren't actually a couple, he began to notice how obvious this fact had been all along. He must have really been blinded by jealously to consider it as a possibility. Nothing they did actually seemed affectionate. Back when they had been dating, they were always very touchy feely. Radulf always had his armed draped over her shoulder or his hand entwined with hers. He'd carry her books and snog her in the middle of the hallway, much to the annoyance of basically everyone else.

But now they walked down the corridor side by side, neither of them actually touching in any way. They looked like two people who spent time together simply because they enjoyed each other's company, and maybe even, at least in Andromeda's case, _needed _each other's company, depended on it. But that was it. There was nothing romantic there anymore.

Secretly, this made Ted very happy.

* * *

"Do you love me more than Andromeda?"

Ted froze, completely caught off guard. He gazed down at Tammy, who was laying beneath him, staring right back at him, a hopeful look in her eyes.

He didn't say anything for a long time. He didn't know _what _to say. It wasn't that he didn't know the answer to the question, it was that he didn't know how to tell a girl no, of course he didn't love her more than another girl.

Finally, after a long silence, Tammy sighed heavily. "Never mind," she murmured. "It doesn't matter." She placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled him closer, engulfing him a deep kiss.

He kissed her back, slipping her nightgown over her head. Leaning in to kiss her again, he spotted a sort of sadness in her eyes, an emptiness that he'd never noticed before. He realized that Tammy was probably the kind of girl who was never loved by a guy more than some other girl. She was always the toy. The rebound. The girl that guys flirted with. Or snogged. Or shagged. But they never carried her books. Or bothered to write to her over the summer. They never loved her. And maybe, just maybe, that actually bothered her.

* * *

Andromeda was in a bad mood. The night before she'd had a wonderful dream. She and Ted had been sitting down the lake, throwing food into the water for the giant squid, giggling and snogging instead of doing their homework. It was like everything was back to normal, like she'd never broken up with, never broken her own heart.

But then she had woken up.

And now she missed him more than ever.

She was already five minutes late to Transfiguration class, having been held up by Peeves, who had thought it would be funny to hide in a suit of armor on the second floor and throw bottles of ink at everyone who passed by. Fuming, her mood was worsened when she arrived at the staircase and found that it was being blocked by a group of giggly sixth year girls who had decided to congregate there, obviously in no hurry to actually go to class. Worst of all, one of them happened to be Tammy, Ted's bimbo girlfriend.

"Excuse me!" she said loudly. "Shouldn't you lot be in class?"

None of them paid her much mind, just continued giggling over whatever asinine things empty-headed blonde Hufflepuffs giggled over.

"I'm the Head Girl!" she snarled. "Do you all want to end up in detention?"

She sounded slightly mental, even to her own ears, but she was beyond the point of caring.

The girls shot her various nasty expressions, but all turned and walked away, heading to remedial Muggle Studies or wherever it was they belonged. All except Tammy.

"Get to class!" Andromeda barked.

"I am," the girl replied, rolling her eyes. "Merlin's beard, did you forget to take your medicine this morning or something?"

"I'm going to count to ten," Andromeda said through gritted teeth. "If you're not gone, I swear to Merlin, I'll –"

"I don't know why you're being so hostile anyway. _You _dumped Ted, remember. It's not my fault he moved on."

Andromeda opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the appearance of Ted.

"You're not in class either?" she snapped, rounding on him. "Why the hell not?"

"I had to help Hagrid with something," he said calmly. "Relax. You sound like lunatic."

"That's not my fault," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Dealing with your slutty girlfriend put me in a bad mood."

This wasn't technically true; she'd been in a bad mood before. But Tammy had definitely worsened it.

Ted's expression darkened. "What did you just call her?"

"I called her a slut," Andromeda hissed. "Because it's true."

"You're a bitch," Ted replied.

She winced at the venom in his voice, but stood her ground.

"I'd rather be a bitch than a slut."

"I hate to interrupt," Tammy said from behind them. "But we really should all be getting to class."

Andromeda had forgotten she was there.

* * *

Ted glanced over Andromeda's shoulder at Tammy. She looked small, standing there by herself, listening to the horrible things that were coming out of Andromeda's mouth, the things she probably heard all the time, the things he'd never realized probably actually hurt her. That look from the night before, the sadness in her eyes, was back.

Perhaps, he realized, it had always been there. Maybe he'd just never noticed.

* * *

**There was a lot of hostility in this chapter. I apologize for that.**

**I hope this chapter was completely horrible. I really struggled with writing it for some reason. None of it was coming naturally at all.**

**On a completely different note, I started a new story about Teddy and Victoire called Mine Again. I'd love it if you guys read it and left me a review (Sorry for the shameless plug. Feel free to ignore it).**


	11. Chapter 11

"Who the hell is that?"

John and Cecilia looked up from a barrel of Fizzing Whizzbees. "Who?" they asked in unison.

"That bloke over there. The one standing with Andromeda," Ted replied angrily.

They both turned, craning their necks to see through the hordes of students that were currently crowded into Honeydukes. Andromeda was standing next to a display of Jelly Slugs, wearing a Slytherin sweater, her thick hair pulled back into a ponytail. Beside her was a guy who looked to be about their age, maybe a year or two older, with curly brown hair and expensive dragon hide shoes. He was tall and held himself in a way that made Ted think that he must take himself very seriously.

"Ooh, he's handsome," Cecilia giggled, when she had spotted him.

Ted groaned. "Great."

"Come on, mate," John said. "It' been months since the two of you broke up. Don't you think it's time to move on?"

"I have moved on," Ted said. "I have a girlfriend, don't I?"

"Where is Tammy, anyway?" Cecilia piped in. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with her?"

"She's not feeling well," he replied. "She's back at the castle."

"Aw, poor thing."

"She'll be fine," he said dismissively. "It's just a cold."

He returned his gaze to Andromeda and her mysterious friend. "He's not really that handsome, is he?" he asked. "I think there's something rather unpleasant about his face. It's a bit too pointy, wouldn't you say?"

John rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Ted? I'm straight and even I can tell the bloke's good-looking."

Ted sighed heavily, watching as the guy leaned down and whispered something in Andromeda's ear, causing her to giggle loudly.

"Looks like he's funny too," John added.

"Fuck you."

"Somebody sounds jealous," a voice said from behind Ted.

He spun around and found himself face and face with Radulf Selwyn.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Nothing," Radulf replied. "I just couldn't help but notice that you've been staring at Andromeda for a good fifteen minutes. You're stalker tendencies are really coming out, Tonks."

"I'm not a stalker!" Ted snapped. "Don't be an idiot."

"Maybe not, but I bet you are wondering who that bloke is."

Ted's eyebrows shot up. "You know him?"

"He's my cousin Ludvig from Sweden. He graduated from Durmstrang a couple years ago."

"Sweden? Does he even speak English?"

"He speaks five different languages actually," Radulf replied with a smirk. "Very smart bloke. Maybe even smarter than me."

It was perhaps the first time in eighteen years that Radulf Selwyn had admitted that someone could potentially be smarter than him.

"Radulf, what the hell are you doing?"

The four of them turned. A very pissed off India Selwyn was standing a few feet away, hands on her hips.

"Having a conversation," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I didn't realize I had to notify you every time I did so."

"I didn't know it was common thing for you, conversing with mudbloods," she replied. "Are you sure that's wise?"

Her green eyes flashed with anger as she stared her twin brother down. He looked right back at her with the same eyes, looking not the least bit perturbed.

"What exactly are you afraid is going to happen to me?" he asked calmly. "Will standing to close to a mudblood infect me with some terrible disease? Will it start to muddy up my own blood?"

His sister pursed her lips together in a thin line. "You better be careful about what you say, Radulf. It could come back to haunt you later."

"Aw, how sweet. My own sister is threatening me."

"I don't have time for this," she muttered, glaring at him. "I have to go buy Mother a birthday gift."

Radulf's face paled. "Is her birthday coming up?"

India rolled her eyes. "It's tomorrow, you git. Don't tell me you forgot?"

And just like that the Selwyn twins were back to normal. Ted watched as they exited the shop, chatting amiably with each other, like nothing out of the ordinary had just taken place.

"You know," said John, "Radulf can be a decent bloke when he wants to be. An arse, yes. But still decent."

Ted nodded. "I think you're right about that, actually," he said.

Before this year, when neither Andromeda nor the Selywn twins were much on Ted's radar, he'd always pretty much considered Radulf and India to be the same person in two different forms. They seemed equally prejudiced, equally cruel, equally willing to go out of their way to taunt, to bully, to hurt. But now that Ted thought about it, he wondered if Radulf had always just been guilty by association. Maybe it had mainly just been India. Maybe it had _always_ just been India.

* * *

"My biggest ambition is to be the Swedish Minister of Magic one day," Ludvig told Andromeda, puffing his chest out importantly.

"Yes," she sighed, sorting through a barrel of Jelly Slugs. "You mentioned that already."

"I'll be quite surprised if I don't end up with the position someday," he continued pompously, as if she hadn't spoken. "I much more qualified than the idiot who's Minister now and I'm fifty years younger."

"And much more modest, I'm sure," she muttered.

"I speak five different languages, you know."

"Yes, Ludvig, _I know_."

"That will really help me conduct foreign affairs, I think."

This boy was really starting to get on her nerves. When Radulf had first introduced them that morning, Andromeda had been quite pleased. Ludvig was handsome, with bright blue eyes and light brown hair that curled up at the ends. But as the afternoon wore on, it became painfully obvious that he was completely incapable of talking about anything other than himself. He made Radulf look humble and that was saying something.

He said something that she quite didn't catch; the crowd of students having grown insufferably large.

"What?" she asked loudly.

He leaned in closer to her ear. "There's a boy staring at you," he said.

She looked across the room. Sure enough, Ted was glaring right at them.

"Oh," she said, "don't mind him, that's just my ex-boyfriend."

"He looks jealous."

She giggled. "I think he is."

She watched as Ted's eyes grew narrower, still staring straight at her. Then Radulf came up behind him and said something, causing him to turn around. She watched them converse for a moment, wondering what they could possibly talking about.

"Is he friends with Radulf?" Ludvig asked.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "No, absolutely not."

"Well, I can't say I blame the guy for being jealous," he said. "You seem like quite the catch," he added, smiling down at her.

_Well how about that_, Andromeda thought. _He has noticed that I'm here after all._

Though how he could possibly consider her to be a 'catch,' she wasn't sure. She hadn't had a chance to tell him a single thing about herself between his nonstop yammering about his many accomplishments.

They stayed in the shop for a few more minutes. Andromeda loaded up on candy and Ludvig continued doing what he did best – talking.

"… and he told me that it was one of the best reports on the subject he'd ever read. Said it was obvious I have a gift for that sort of thing. Which of course – "

"Ludvig," Andromeda said, cutting him off. "Do you want to get out of here?"

He looked down at her, with an expression that suggested he'd forgotten she was there.

"Oh," he said. "Yes, why not? I've never been one for sweets anyway."

"Okay," she said. "I'll just go pay and then we can leave."

"Let me," he said, taking the bag from her.

"Thank you," she said. "I'll just be waiting outside then."

She made her way outside into the cool spring air and sat down on a bench. Was it really already April? Had it really been four months since she and Ted had ended things? Where did time go? Four months had passed and yet she still missed Ted dreadfully. She dreamed about him all the time. She spent most of her meal staring longingly at the Hufflepuff table, even when Radulf teased her about it.

A few minutes later, Ludvig appeared, jolting her back to reality.

"Here you go," he said, handing her the bag.

"At least let me pay you back," she said, reaching into her purse.

"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "My mother would slap me upside the head if she found out I let a girl pay for herself."

Andromeda smiled. "You're sweet."

It was true. He was sweet. Completely self-absorbed, but still a gentleman. The type of guy who held doors open and stood up when a girl entered the room. Perhaps she could get used to incessant chatter. She desperately wanted someone to distract her from the fact that Ted was no longer hers. She wanted to move on like he had. And Ludvig was a good match for her. Her parents would approve. He came from a good pure-blood family. He was smart and was bound to add to his family's already rather vast fortune with his own business ventures. He had mentioned that he was planning to stay in England to work for the Ministry here for the time being, which meant that he would be around when she graduated. And when it came down to it, she really just wanted a boy to snog. He hadn't kissed anyone since Ted and she missed it.

"Do you want to go somewhere that's… a little less crowded?" she asked.

"Like where?"

"How about the Hog's Head? Nobody ever goes in there."

"Okay," he said with a shrug. "Lead the way."

Andromeda had never been inside the Hog's Head before, and when she stepped inside, she realized that she hadn't been missing much. It was dark and dingy, with a strange smell that may or may not have been coming from the hunched-over hag in the corner.

She and Ludvig sat down next to each other at a small table in the corner, carefully avoiding a strange brown stain on one of the benches.

"We don't have to stay here," Andromeda said, after the barman brought them their butterbeers in glasses that looked as if they had never been washed.

"It's fine," Ludvig said. "I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic out there with all those people."

They both stared at their butterbeers, but neither of them seemed brave enough to actually take a drink. An awkward silence fell over them for the first time all day. Perhaps Ludvig had finally run out of things to say.

"Erm," he said, after a while. "Did I tell you about the time that I –"

Or perhaps he hadn't. Not in the mood for another long-winded story, Andromeda leaned over and pressed her lips to his, effectively shutting him up.

They kissed for a long time and it was nice. But nothing more. Just _nice_.

When Andromeda and Ted kissed there had been passion and chemistry and desire and desperation and love. It was as if they had all the time in the world and no time at all. When she kissed Ted, she honestly believed they were the only two people left in the world. Nobody else existed. Nobody else _mattered_.

Kissing Ludvig wasn't like that. She spent most of the time hoping the goblins across the room weren't watching them and wondering if McGonagall was going to give them much homework on Monday.

When they finally pulled apart, Ludvig smiled down at her, looking quite pleased. Perhaps he hadn't noticed how empty the kisses had been. Maybe he'd never been in love before, maybe he didn't notice what he was missing because he didn't _know_. Didn't know what a real kiss could convey. How hot and passionate and full of _life _and_ love _they should be.

"Andromeda," he breathed, cupping her face and leaning in again.

She pulled away. "I don't think this going to work."

He looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course it will. We make sense. You're just the kind of girl my mother has been wishing I would meet."

And he was the kind of boy her mother would be thrilled about as well. It would be easy to give in. To start seeing him. To marry him. To settle.

But she didn't _want_ to settle. She remembered what Radulf had told her soon after she had broken up with Ted. About how everyone had a choice. How they just had to be brave enough to make the right one.

She decided to be brave.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But I can't."

He smiled at her sadly. "Okay," he said simply.

She stood up, dropping some money on the table.

"It's the least I can do," she said, when he tried to protest.

Then she turned and walked out.

* * *

The last few months of school passed by quickly. Andromeda divided all her free time between her common room, the Slytherin common room, and the library, studying obsessively for the N.E.W.T.s with Radulf.

A few days before graduation, she received a letter from Bellatrix. She hesitated before opening it. What could her sister possibly have to say to her? Surely it couldn't be anything good. Perhaps she was just checking to make sure Andromeda had held up her side of the bargain.

She took a deep breath and ripped it open.

_Dromeda,_

_I'm sure you'll be quite angry at me when you find out what happened, but I thought I should remind you that when I agreed to our little bargain, I said that I wouldn't physically hurt _Tonks. _So I kept my promise, darling, even though it may seem as if I didn't. As to why I did what I did, I simply felt that the boy needed to face some sort of consequence for his actions. I needed to make sure he learned his place. I hope you understand, but I'm sure you won't._

_Love always,_

_Bella_

* * *

**Dun Dun Duuun.**

**Review please!**


	12. Chapter 12

Andromeda ran out of her common room, taking off down the corridor and out the doors of the castle. She had to find Ted. Immediately.

It was a warm June day and most of the students were relaxing outside by the lake. She looked around wildly as she ran across the lawn, but he was nowhere in sight. However, she did spot Tammy sitting under a tree with a couple of her friends.

"Tammy," Andromeda called out, panting. She skid to a stop and collapsed in the grass. "Tammy, have you see Ted?"

The three girls stared at her with looks of disdain. Tammy cocked her head to the side, studying Andromeda for a moment. Finally she shook her head.

"Er, no," she said. "Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?" Andromeda asked, panicking.

"We broke up. Like last week."

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, you're not," said Tammy, tucking a lock her blonde hair behind her ear. "But, whatever. Things weren't working out between us."

"So you haven't seen him?"

"Nope," she said. "Now if you'll excuse us, we were in the middle of a conversation."

Andromeda stood up, feeling dejected, and walked back into the castle. As she passed by the library, she spotted Ted's friends, John and Cecilia, sitting alone at a table. The library was empty except for them; exams had ended a few days before.

"Have you guys seen Ted?" she asked, approaching their table.

"He's up on our dormitory," John said, eyeing her suspiciously. "He wouldn't come down. Seems really upset about something, but he won't tell me what."

"We're really worried about him," Cecilia added.

Andromeda felt her heart speed up. What had Bellatrix done?

"Listen," she said. "I need to go see him. Right now. It's an emergency. I need you guys to tell me how to get into the Hufflepuff common room."

John and Cecilia glanced at each other, looking unsure.

"_Please_!"

They seemed to sense the desperation in her voice.

"Okay," John said. "Here's what you need to do: tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. That makes the lid swing open, exposing a passageway. Crawl through and you'll be in our common room. The seventh year boys' dormitory is at the very top of the stairs on the left side."

"Thank you!" Andromeda called over her shoulder, already halfway out the door.

She did as she was instructed and crawled through the passageway. On the other side, she climbed out, ignoring the gawking of several first year Hufflepuffs as she ran by. Taking the stairs two at a time, she burst into the dormitory and looked around wildly.

"Ted!" she called. "Ted, where are you?"

The curtains on one of the beds opened and there he was. His eyes were red and he looked like he'd been crying for a very long time.

"What the hell do you want?" he snarled.

"I… I wanted to see if you were okay."

"Do I look like I'm okay to you?"

She shook her head. "No," she said. "No you don't."

"They're dead," he whispered. "They're all dead."

Andromeda's heart stopped. "Who? Ted, who's dead?"

"My parents," he replied, his voice low and hoarse. "And my sister."

"Oh my god," she said, taking a step back. "Oh my god. Ted, I'm so, so sorry. That's awful. I don't know what to say."

"Can you just leave?" he said. "I kind of want to be alone."

She stayed where she was. "I know who did it." She blurted it out without thinking and as soon as she said it, she wondered if she should have. She knew he had a right to know, but it was such an awful thing to have to tell someone.

"Yeah, I do too," he said bitterly. "Death Eaters, obviously."

"No, I mean, I know specifically who did it," she clarified.

She watched him freeze for a second, his eyes widen. "How do you know that?" he asked quietly. "Dumbledore told me that even the Aurors haven't figured it out yet."

"It was Bellatrix," she said. "She wrote me a letter and told me."

Ted closed his eyes. He sat there like that for a long time, not saying a word. The room was completely silent except for their breathing. Finally he opened them, looking straight at her.

"Bellatrix?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "Ted, I'm so sorry. I had no idea she would do something like this. I would have found a way to stop her. I would have –"

He put his hand up and she fell silent.

"Just leave," he said. "Now."

"Ted –"

He just shook his head. She lowered her head and turned to leave.

"You know, I never really noticed before…" he began to say, as she started down the stairs.

She turned around. He was looking right at her, with eyes that seemed to see straight through her soul.

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"You look so very much like her," he said. "It's uncanny."

She let out a sob and then turned to leave, running down the stairs as fast as she had run up them.

* * *

Ted threw himself back on his bed after Andromeda left and closed his eyes, wishing more than anything he could fall asleep and wake up in the morning to find out that this was nothing more than a horrible nightmare. Because that's what all of this felt like. None of seemed real. None of it seemed possible. How could his mum be dead? And his dad? And his sister? How could he be the only one left? They were all such good people, some of the least selfish people he knew. They were the people who had loved him most, the people who'd raised him, who'd always been there for him from the minute he was born. They couldn't be gone. They couldn't be. It wasn't possible. He couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it.

He'd heard that denial was the first of the five stages of grief and right now he had to agree. He'd never really experienced real loss before, not like this. He'd lost a couple grandparents before, and an aunt who lived in America, but those had all been when he was young, much too young to be affected much at all. But this, this affected him. This was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. It made everything else that had ever happened seem like nothing. No other problem he'd ever had seemed to even compare to losing his entire family. Nothing even came close.

When Dumbledore had called him to office earlier, he'd had no idea what the headmaster wanted to see him about. But he didn't even consider the possibility that something had happened to his family. Which was naïve, now that he looked back on it. After all, they were living in a world in which Lord Voldemort had vast amounts of power. His family were muggles, easy targets for Death Eaters with hatred in the hearts, especially one specific Death Eater with a particular grudge against him…

When Dumbledore had told him the news, looking pityingly at him over his half-moon spectacles, all Ted could picture was his parents in their last moments, the look of horror on their faces as they stood huddled in a corner, with no way to escape the blood thirsty Death Eater in front of them. It was the most awful image he'd ever imagined, something he wished he could erase from his mind forever. He didn't want to think about the fact that their last minutes were no doubt spent cowering in fear, knowing that at any second their lives would be snuffed out forever. Had they thought about him? Did it occur to them that they would never be in such a position if it weren't for him? Did they blame him?

* * *

Not surprisingly, Andromeda couldn't sleep that night. She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling for what felt like hours.

For some reason, the one thing that kept running though her mind was a memory from years ago. She had probably been about five or six and it was summer. She was outside, chasing Narcissa around their garden. She had tripped over a rock and had fallen, spraining her ankle. She remembered lying on the ground, sobbing hysterically, unable to move. Narcissa took off, back into the house, looking for help. A few minutes later, Bellatrix appeared. She picked Andromeda up and managed to carry her back to the house all on her own, all the while whispering in her ear that she'd be all right. Their mother was away at some sort of luncheon and their father was "much too busy to be disturbed," but Bellatrix had stayed by Andromeda's side, putting ice on her ankle and reading her stories for the rest of the afternoon.

It was strange, Andromeda thought, how things could change so drastically from the time you're a child to the time you're an adult. Somehow, all your innocence just seems to disappear without you even noticing, leaving you dazed and confused, wondering when you outgrew dolls and hide-and-seek, wondering when things like future careers and marriages became top priorities and not something in the distant, distant future.

Bellatrix had the symbol of the darkest wizard of all time engraved on her arm, the symbol of intolerance, prejudice, and hatred. She had tortured and murdered and torn lives apart.

And yet, somehow, Andromeda had a hard time wrapping her mind around any of that. For years, Bellatrix had been her big sister, her hero, the person she looked up to more than anyone, the person she wanted to be. She had followed her around and begged her to play. She had cried when she left for Hogwarts for the first time, as she watched the train disappear from sight, begging her parents to please, please let her go too.

* * *

"Do you think it's possible for a person to hate someone, hate them utterly and completely, but still love them?" Andromeda asked, the next morning at breakfast.

Radulf looked up from his cereal. "Merlin, Andromeda, that's a pretty deep question for eight in the morning."

"You know why I'm asking," she said, her voice serious.

"Yeah, I know," he said with a sigh.

By then, the whole school had heard what had happened to Ted's parents and sister, knew that they'd been brutally murdered by some evil Death Eaters. Of course, not many of them knew for sure that it had been Bellatrix who'd done it, though there had been some speculation, some murmurings in the hallways. But Andromeda had told Radulf.

"So do you?" she asked again. "Think it's possible, I mean?"

He was quiet for a long time, staring off into the distance, his brow furrowed. She was glad that he seemed to be taking her question seriously. It had been plaguing her for hours.

"Yes," he said, after a while. "Yes, I think so."

"But how?" she asked. "Love and hate are opposites. How can you feel both for the same person?"

"Well, I guess I would say that love and hate are the two most powerful emotions a person can feel. They're reserved only for the things – or people – we feel most passionately about. I guess that makes them more similar than we might think. When it comes down to it, love and hate are both just an all-consuming passion, and that makes the line between them easy to cross."

She sighed heavily, dragging her fork across her plate, shuffling her food from side to side. She had no appetite. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep. It was hard to believe that they graduated tomorrow. Seven years in this place were drawing to close and it didn't seem possible. She should have been happy, should have been excited for her future, but instead everything seemed overshadowed by the pain and misery Bellatrix had caused.

"I think it's okay if deep down you still love her," Radulf said. "She's still your sister. Even after everything that's happened, she's still your sister."

"I don't think I can ever look her in the eye again," she said quietly.

"Understandable."

Someone behind her cleared there throat and she glanced up. Ted was standing there, his hands shoved in his pockets, not really looking her in the eye. His shirt and tie were askew and his hair stuck up in odd angles. He somehow looked like he hadn't bathed or slept in days, although he had only received the news the day before.

Andromeda was surprised to see him. She had honestly believed that he would never speak to her again, not after what he had said to her the night before, those words that had haunted her ever since: _You look so very much like her. _The look in his eye when he had spoken them, the fire that seemed to burn with disgust - with hatred - had made her think that, in that moment, he had truly believed she was no different than her sister, no better than the murderous psychopath who had killed his family.

"Yes?" she said, when he didn't speak.

"The funeral… the funeral is tomorrow," he said. "I'm leaving today to help with the preparations. I won't be coming back."

"But you'll miss the graduation ceremony."

"I'm not really in the mood for it anyway," he said with a shrug.

Everything he said, all the words that were coming out of his mouth, sounded hollow. There was no emotion in his voice. He was speaking with the tone of somebody who'd had every bit of feeling they had possessed sucked out of them, leaving them with nothing but a gaping hole in their heart and no tears left to cry.

"I was thinking that you might want to come too," he said. "If you want. I know…I know my parents really liked you a lot. And I think…I think you cared about them too. You'll miss graduation though, so I'd understand if you don't want to."

"You know," she said, "I'm not really in the mood for the ceremony either. I'd like to go to the funeral."

He didn't smile, didn't even bat an eyelash. He just nodded once and glanced at his watch. "We're leaving in an hour. You might want to go get packed up if you haven't already."

"Alright," she said, standing up.

"Meet me in Dumbledore's office at nine," he said. "He's arranged a Portkey."

And then he was gone.

Andromeda turned to look at Radulf, who was still sitting at the table, casually eating his breakfast.

"Well," she said. "I, erm…"

She trailed off, unsure of what to say. What would become of her and Radulf's friendship now that they wouldn't be seeing each other every day in school? What was he going to do with his life? What was she going to do with hers? Were they going to go down completely different paths? Would they become strangers to each other, the type of person you spot across a crowded room ten years in the future and wondered how someone who used to be so important could have disappeared so easily from your life?

"Goodbye," he said quietly, looking up from his cereal, his eyes locking with hers.

She wanted to tell him to make the right choices in life, to distance himself from India and his parents and everyone who would steer him in the wrong direction. _You're too good for them,_ she wanted to say. _Too kind and smart and understanding to become a Death Eater._ He was so very different from India. Unlike his sister, he was able to love unselfishly, to put others before himself, which she never had.

And, more than anything, she wanted to tell him to become a teacher.

But she didn't say any of those things. Instead she just smiled and whispered "goodbye" as she turned to leave.

When she reached the door, she turned back around. The seat he'd just been sitting in was empty. He had already gone to sit by some of his other Slytherin friends.

She sighed and walked out.

* * *

**I figured I better update quickly so you guys didn't, like, shank me or something. So here you go.** **Hope you liked it. If you did, it would be quite lovely if you hit the review button and let me know :)**


	13. Chapter 13

It seemed odd, Andromeda thought, for the sun to be shining so brightly that day. It should have, at the very least, been raining. There should have been storm clouds gathering above their heads, dark and threatening and blocking all the warmth and happiness of the sun. The sun brought life; it had no place here in this cemetery, not when three people who had so much life to left to live were being lowered into the ground before their time.

She lowered her head, staring down at her shoes, the plain black pumps that Ted had found in his sister's closet and given to her to wear, along with her dress. It seemed strange, almost wrong, to be wearing the clothes of the person whose funeral you were attending, but the only clothes Andromeda had brought with her were the ones in her Hogwarts trunk. Mostly blouses and skirts and robes. A few pairs of jeans and some sweaters. Nothing appropriate for a funeral. All her dress clothes were at her house. And she certainly couldn't return there to get them. She wasn't sure if she could _ever _return there.

The pastor stood beside the caskets, saying some sort of prayer, his voice monotone and dreary. She tried listening to what he was saying, but found she couldn't. There was an emptiness in words, and as he droned on about God and love and eternal life, she found it hard to believe anything he was saying. He hadn't known the Tonks family, didn't know who they truly were. It wasn't possible for him to put into words what needed to be said about them. What he was saying was generic, meant for anyone, and therefore meaningless to everyone.

Her mind began to wander, her gaze drifting from person to person.

A few feet away from her, Shannon's American boyfriend stood with his head bowed toward the ground and his hands clasped tightly together. She wondered if he was praying.

Ted's muggle best friend, Mark, stood with his girlfriend and their newborn baby. Andromeda remembered talking to him at that party during the summer, when he had confessed his worries and fears about having a pregnant girlfriend whom he wasn't sure he loved. She wondered if he still felt that way, or if he'd grown to love her over time. It seemed so long ago now, practically another life time. She and Ted had only been pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but by then real attraction had been starting to bloom. Everything had seemed so simple, so carefree. They had been kids. But summer had ended and life had begun, and in only a year, they seemed to have grown up so very, very quickly.

Ted's one surviving grandparent, his grandmother on his mother's side, stood near the front of the crowd, her face buried in a handkerchief. Her husband, the man she had married after the death of Ted's grandfather, had his arm around her shoulder. They looked frail and old, standing there together, like they were holding each other up.

She didn't really know anyone else. There were a few faces that looked vaguely familiar from the previous summer, but that was it. Shelia who worked at the diner in town. Ted's ex-girlfriend Julie. A few farmhands.

Her gaze finally landed on Ted. He was standing apart from everyone, his arms folded tightly across his chest, staring at the three caskets with a look Andromeda couldn't even describe, a mix of sadness and anger and confusion and loneliness.

The pastor finished speaking and invited Ted forward to say his final words to his parents and sister before they were lowered into the ground. Andromeda watched as he slowly walked to the front and came to a stop in front of the caskets.

"Ooh, bless his heart," the woman standing next to Andromeda whispered to another woman. "Look how red his eyes are. He's obviously been crying for hours, poor dear."

Little did the two women know that Ted's bloodshot eyes were definitely not caused by too much crying. As soon as she and Ted arrived at his house the day before, he had disappeared with Mark, coming back hours later stinking of booze and marijuana for only long enough to shove some of his sister's clothes at her with only "For the funeral" as an explanation. He'd disappeared again soon after and she hadn't seen him until he'd shown up at the funeral home that morning. She supposed it was his way of coping, of trying to numb the pain, though she couldn't say that she approved.

Up in front, Ted seemed to be having a little trouble putting what he was feeling into words. He stood there, staring down at his family, opening his mouth, closing it, and then opening it again. Finally he choked out a simple "goodbye" and then backed away slowly, right into a tree, sliding down into a sitting position and burying his head in his arms.

"He could have said a bit more, don't you think?" the woman beside Andromeda whispered to her friend, her voice filled with disapproval.

Andromeda clenched her teeth, and before she could stop herself, turned to the woman. "I'm sure he said plenty in his head," she hissed. "He doesn't have to say his goodbyes out loud just because you want to know what he has to say, you gossipy old cow."

The woman looked shocked. "Well, I never!" she huffed.

Andromeda rolled her eyes and turned away. The caskets were being lowered into the earth and Ted was still on the ground, not looking. She didn't blame him. What an awful thing to have to see, your family disappearing from sight forever.

* * *

Ted was nowhere to be found after the funeral. Everyone came back to his house, to eat and to chat. They all asked for him, no doubt everyone wanted to offer their condolences, their thin-lipped smiles and half-hearted hugs that wouldn't mean much to him at all. But no one knew where he'd gone.

Walking into the kitchen for a glass of water, Andromeda found Mike, Shannon's boyfriend, standing by the fridge, his eyes locked on a photograph that was stuck to it with a magnet. It was a snapshot of Ted, Shannon, and his parents. It had been taken a few years before and they were all standing on the beach, arms around each other, grinning at the camera.

"How can they be gone?" he whispered.

She shook her head. She had no answer.

"I miss her so much," he said. "I was gonna ask her to marry me."

"What was she like?" Andromeda asked. "I never got to meet her."

"She was the smartest, nicest girl I ever knew," he said. "And she had this enthusiasm – this passion –for music and for learning and for _life_. She found joy in the simplest things. She was the kind of person who was happy simply because she was alive. She was always dreaming about the future, but she always remembered to live in the present too. It's not fair…"

He trailed off, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. He didn't finish what he was saying, but Andromeda knew what he meant. It wasn't fair that she was taken so soon. It wasn't fair that someone so young, so full of life, was gone. It wasn't fair that she never got to fulfill any of her dreams. It wasn't fair that they would never get married, would never have kids, would never live happily ever after together.

"I know," she said gently. "And I'm so sorry."

How could Bellatrix have done this? _Why_ had she done this? Didn't she know how many lives she'd changed, how many lives she'd ruined?

* * *

Later that evening, Andromeda found Ted lying on the roof outside his bedroom, where the two of them had fallen asleep while looking at the stars during the previous summer. He'd told her then that he used to come out there with his father and she had no doubt that was what he was thinking about now.

Andromeda had a feeling that he'd been out here the entire time.

"Hey," she whispered, climbing out the window.

"Go away," he muttered when he turned his head and saw her.

There was no malice in his voice when he said though, none of the anger he'd been directing at her recently. He just seemed tired. So she ignored him, lying down beside him. He blinked at her in surprise, but didn't look mad. Instead, he almost looked relieved. Maybe he'd wanted her to stay, but hadn't believed she would. Maybe he didn't really have the energy to deal with everything by himself, even if he tried to make it seem like he did.

She scooted a little closer to him, resting her head on his chest. It was the first time they'd touched in months and she didn't know how he would react. She was glad when he wrapped his arm around her tightly.

"Ted," she murmured. "I – "

"Shhh," he replied. "I don't wanna talk right now. Let's just lay here, okay?"

"Ted," she said again, pulling away a bit and lifting her head. "This is important. I really need you to listen. Please."

He sighed, pulling her back. "Fine."

"I need you to know that Bellatrix killed your parents and sister because of a deal we made. She promised that she wouldn't physically harm you in any way if I ended things with you completely. I should have known though that she wouldn't let you off that easily. She kept her promise, but she still managed to hurt you horribly."

Ted was quiet for a long time, obviously letting this information sink in. "So that stuff you said, about not loving me, that wasn't true?" he finally asked.

"No, Ted, of course not. I never stopped loving you. Not once."

He smiled at her then, for the first time in ages, and she smiled back, wishing they could stay like that forever, just the two of them, and never have to worry about anything ever again.

Ted yawned.

"We should be getting to bed," Andromeda said. "It's getting late. And it's been a long day."

"A very long day," Ted agreed. "I still can't believe they're gone." His voice cracked and she grabbed his hand, squeezing it.

"You'll see them again," she said, even though she wasn't really too sure that was true.

"How do you know?"

"I don't," she admitted. "But you have to have faith."

Ted stared up at the stars. "When I was a little kid, my dad would tell me that each star is someone who'd died. That everyone who'd ever lived is up there, watching over us. He'd point to one and say, 'That could be your grandpa.' For a long time, I really believed him. I honestly thought that stars were the souls of everyone who's passed away."

"It sounds like a lovely thing to believe," Andromeda murmured.

"Maybe," he said with another yawn. "But it's not true, is it? No matter how lovely it sounds."

"We _really_ should be getting to bed," she said.

They stood up, climbing back inside.

"Goodnight," she said, turning for the door. She would be sleeping in Shannon's room, something she wasn't really looking forward to doing again. It had been so odd laying there the night before, thinking about how Shannon had been doing the same thing only a couple nights before, back when she'd been alive, back when she'd had her entire life ahead of her.

"Wait," Ted said, grabbing her hand.

She turned. "What?"

"I thought maybe you could…stay."

She hesitated. Was that really a good idea? His family had just been murdered. By her sister. Did they really want to become _intimate_ again? She knew that Ted's emotions had to be all over the place right now. Was this even want he wanted? Or was he just in desperate need of some sort of distraction? Would he regret everything in the morning?

But then she took one more look at him. He was hunched over, leaning against his wall, looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Much too young to have experienced what he had. Right now, she realized, he_ needed_ her. And she wouldn't – couldn't – let him down.

"Okay," she whispered.

He led her over to his bed. She fell back onto it and he crawled in next to her. They lay side by side, gazing at each other for a moment. And then they were kissing, bodies intertwined. It felt so familiar, like they'd never stopped. Like those six months they'd spent apart had never happened. And they couldn't have; this felt too right. They couldn't possibly have ever been apart.

He hovered over her, in the moment before it happened, his blue eyes filled with such love.

"You know," he told her quietly, "you really don't look like her much at all."

And then she knew that she would never leave him again. He needed her. He loved her. He'd seen past her family, seen past all the harm her sister had caused him, and he still wanted her. Being without him no longer made sense.

* * *

Ted awoke in the night with a start. He'd been having the same dream that he'd been having every time he slept. There wasn't much to it. It was simply his parents, his sister, and himself. They were sitting around the kitchen table, eating breakfast. His dad was reading the paper. His mum and sister were making small talk. There was nothing special about any of it. It could have been any morning. But then, all three of them just disappeared. He'd glance down at something and when he looked back up they'd be gone.

And he'd be alone.

He glanced over at Andromeda. She looked so peaceful, lying there beside him. He brushed a lock of her hair from her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Softly so he didn't wake her.

He reminded himself that he wasn't alone.

Not anymore.

* * *

**Review.**

**That's all.**


	14. Chapter 14

When Andromeda awoke the next morning, the bed was empty except for her. She pushed the covers aside and hopped out, pulling on Ted's bathrobe and gathering up her clothes from the night before. She hurried back to Shannon's room to shower and get dressed, then headed downstairs to find Ted.

She peered into the kitchen. Ted's grandmother was sitting at the table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. She was staying with them until Ted figured out where he wanted to go, if he wanted to move in with her and her husband or if he wanted to find his own flat. Either way, this house and farm were being sold.

"Have you seen Ted?" Andromeda asked.

His grandmother looked up, giving her a slightly disapproving look. Andromeda wondered if she knew that she had spent the night with Ted.

"No, I haven't," she replied. "I thought he was still asleep."

"Oh," Andromeda said. "Well, he's not. His bed was empty."

His grandmother frowned, setting down her coffee cup. "I don't know, dear. I'm sure he's around though."

Andromeda couldn't help but think that she actually didn't look too sure at all.

She walked through the house one more time, checking each room. She even peered out onto the roof. But he was nowhere to be found. She opened the front door of the house and stepped out onto the porch. That's when she finally saw him. He was leaning up against the side of the house, staring at nothing, clutching a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand.

"It's nine in the morning," she called out as she approached him. "Should you really be drinking?"

He turned, smiling at her with bleary eyes. "Morning," he murmured, taking a swig straight from the bottle.

"I'm serious, Ted," she said, coming to a stop in front of him, her hands on her hips. "This isn't healthy."

She wanted to help him, so very desperately. Here he was standing in front of her, so handsome, so broken. It seemed to her that he was standing on the end of a crossroads in his life. One false move and he could spiral out of control completely.

"It's the only thing," he said. "The only thing that somewhat numbs the pain. All the emotions that I'm feeling right now, they're too much. One person can't feel all this, Andromeda. Not without exploding. This is the only thing that controls that."

She reached out, trying to grab the bottle from him. But he was too quick for her, catching her wrist in his empty hand and pulling her up against him.

She pressed herself closer to him, wrapping her hands around his neck. His arms wound around her waist and she could feel the cool glass of the firewhiskey bottle against the back of her leg.

"I love you," he murmured into her ear, his breath warm against her face.

"You smell like alcohol," she whispered back.

He ignored her, nuzzling his face into her neck. Knowing he was distracted, she took the opportunity to reach behind her and grab the bottle from him.

"Hey," he said, pulling back. He tried to snatch the bottle back. "I need that."

"No, you don't," she replied, tilting it upside and letting the amber-colored liquid drain out into the grass.

She expected Ted to be angry, but he merely shrugged, reaching inside his pocket and pulling out a small silver flask.

"Always best to be prepared," he said, unscrewing the lid and lifting it to his lips.

Andromeda sighed heavily. "Ted…"

"You can't help me, Andromeda. Nobody can."

"I don't believe that."

* * *

Ted leaned back against the wall of his house. His back scraped against the chipping paint, causing flakes of it to fall to the ground. He and his dad had been saying for years that they would repaint, but they had never gotten around to it. And now they never would. The house and farm were being put up for sale. Which was for the best, really. The entire place reminded him too much of everything he had lost. When he walked through the rooms, it was almost as if they had voices. He could practically hear his mother's sweet, melodic singing echoing out of her bathroom, where she used to sing as she got ready in the morning. His father's laughter still seemed to fill the kitchen, laughing at his own jokes at the breakfast table. His sister's loud chatter swirled out of her bedroom, as if she was still in there, gossiping on the phone with one of her friends. Every little object suddenly seemed to have a story, a reminder of something that he had, until then, forgotten about.

He couldn't stay there a minute longer than necessary. It would drive him insane, worsen the depression that already seemed to have sucked every bit of emotion out of him. The only thing he felt anymore, other than despair and loneliness, was love for Andromeda.

He _needed_ her.

Because even though he said that nobody could help him, not even her, he was still so relieved that she wanted to try. She was the only one he had left who was even willing to do that.

"Ted," she said, breaking the silence. "Where are you going to go?"

He shrugged. "I guess I'll get a flat in London. There's no way I can move in with my grandma."

Andromeda bit her lip, like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how.

"What?" he asked.

She hesitated for a moment. "Do you think that we could maybe get a flat together? I don't…I don't have anywhere to go either."

"Oh," he said. "Erm, yeah, that makes sense."

He expected her to smile, or at the very least look a little happy that he had agreed. After all, she had been the one who had suggested it. But instead, her frown only deepened, as she stared down at her shoes.

"Andromeda?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

She lifted her head, and the look on her face made him want to take her in his arms and never let go.

"I'm just worried," she whispered.

"About what?"

"Bellatrix, of course. She's not gonna forget our deal. If we're together, she'll come after you."

"She doesn't have to know," he said.

"But what if she finds out?"

"Andromeda," he said, taking her hand in his, "that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"But why?" she asked quietly. "It's your _life _that you're risking."

He shrugged. "It's not much of a life without you in it."

Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she smiled, her eyes so bright, so full of life. They were alive, both of them, if only for that moment. And he did not want to waste a minute more of whatever time he left without her.

"I'd rather live one day with you than one hundred years without you," he added.

* * *

Andromeda was feeling a little bit light-headed. Was this really happening? Nobody –not even Ted – had ever said anything that romantic to her before.

"I could write to my uncle Alphard," she said breathlessly. "He's not like the rest of my family. I'm sure he'll send us some money if I ask. So we can have enough money to rent a flat and get things started."

Ted nodded, but he didn't seem to be listening. "Do you want to go swimming?" he asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"Swimming," he repeated. "The temperature is at a record high for this time of year, you know. It would be a shame to waste it."

"Erm…okay," she agreed.

He tightened his grip on her hand, and a second later they were gone, appearing at the lake they'd gone swimming in the summer before.

It looked exactly the same has it had a year ago. But that was how many things were. Everything around you stayed the same, while you were the one who changed so drastically. Last year, she and Ted didn't have a care in the world. They might have thought they did, but in comparison to now, it had been nothing. Just silly worries and conflicted feelings about each other. She'd been embarrassed about losing her swimsuit top and confused about why she was having so much fun with a muggleborn.

Now, they both stripped off their clothes without the slightest bit of embarrassment, having seen it all plenty of time before.

"I've never been skinny dipping before," she said, as they edged into the water, getting used to the temperature.

He laughed. "Me and Mark used to when we were little kids." He paused. "Merlin, that seems likes ages ago."

Her eyes narrowed when she saw that he was still holding that stupid flask. "Couldn't you have left that behind?" she asked, when he took a large gulp.

He shook his head, and then held it out to her, offering her a sip.

She almost said no, but then she decided against it and grabbed it from him. The firewhiskey burned her throat on its way down and by the time they finished passing it back and forth, she was feeling a bit tipsy.

And then they were kissing, sloppy, drunken kisses, and he was pulling her as close as possible.

"Ever had sex in the water?" he whispered in ear.

"Of course not," she replied, giggling. "You're the only boy I've ever shagged."

And then his expression was serious again, and she cupped his face and asked what was wrong.

"I wish you were the only girl I've ever shagged," he replied.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "It doesn't matter if I wasn't your first, as long as I'm your last."

He gazed into her eyes, this broken boy whom she loved, and knew that her heart belonged to him forever.

* * *

Later, when they opened the back door of the house and stumbled inside, giggling loudly and dripping water all over the floor, they found themselves face to face with Ted's grandmother. She was a tiny woman, but the look she was giving them made Andromeda shrink back.

"Where have you two been?" she asked, her arms crossed across her chest.

"Swimming," Ted replied, tilting his head up defiantly.

His grandmother's eyes narrowed. "Your parents and sister are _dead_," she hissed. "And this is how you mourn them? Going off with some girl and having fun at the lake." Her gaze dropped to the flask in his hand. "Getting drunk at the lake too, I see."

"People mourn differently," he said quietly. "Not everyone can sit around, with only their thoughts to keep them company. I need to _forget_. It's the only thing keeping me sane."

His grandmother pursed her lips. "You were always such a good boy," she murmured quietly.

As she turned and walked away, Andromeda could hear her murmuring to herself. "Such a shame. Such a shame."

* * *

**Hope you guys liked this chapter. Don't forget to leave me a review!**

**Also, if you want to make me really happy (and the happier I am, the more likely I am to update quicker), then you should check out my Teddy/Victoire story 'Mine Again'. I just posted its second chapter a few days ago and I'd love if it got some more reviews!**


	15. Chapter 15

"So here we are," Andromeda said. "Home sweet home."

She watched Ted survey the flat, taking in the cracks in the ceiling and the peeling paint on the walls. "It's a dump," he said simply, before throwing himself down on the ratty sofa that was tucked away in the corner.

The flat had come completely furnished. The landlord had told them that the previous tenants had up and left in the middle of the night, leaving everything behind. Unfortunately, Andromeda didn't fancy actually going anywhere near any of this furniture. There were too many mysterious stains and odd smells for her taste. And she would most definitely be changing the sheets on the bed before actually sleeping on it that night. She was not putting her body anywhere near that thing after seeing those little brown hairs all over it while looking around earlier. She wished that she and Ted could afford something nicer, but this place was the only thing they could afford with the money her uncle Alphard had sent them. Not that she wasn't grateful for every Knut he'd given them. He had been more than generous.

"And there goes a cockroach," Ted said. "Lovely."

Andromeda let out a shriek. "Where?"

He gestured lazily in the direction of the tiny kitchen. "It went in there."

"Eww," she said, shuddering at the thought and praying that they would save enough money to move as soon as possible.

Ted grabbed the remote off the coffee table and turned on the television, seemingly unfazed by the cockroach situation. "Hey, look," he said. "Bonanza's on."

"I'm going out," she said, pulling on her coat.

"Where?" he asked, not taking his eyes of the television.

"The store," she said. "I need to get us some new sheets. Is there anything else you can think of that we need."

"Food," he said.

"Right," she said. "Of course."

He didn't reply, his eyes glued to the screen.

"And I have a meeting at the Ministry after that," she said. "To interview for a receptionist position."

He finally looked up. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked. "I would have started to look for a job too."

* * *

Andromeda was looking at Ted rather strangely. He shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"You can't really think that you can get a job, can you?" she replied slowly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, you can't just be spending time out in the open in the wizarding world. If Bellatrix were to find you…"

"So what are you saying?" he asked, wondering why this hadn't occurred to him before. "Are you saying that I have to stay here in _hiding_?"

"No," she said. "I wouldn't say that exactly. But you should only go places you know are completely safe. And you Apparate directly there and back. You shouldn't really spend any time in areas that are primarily for witches and wizards. That'll make it too easy for Bellatrix to find you."

"So what am I supposed to do all day?" he asked. "Just hang out and watch television, waiting for you to come home from work?"

Andromeda looked around. "You could start fixing this place up," she suggested.

He sighed. "Yeah, okay."

She smiled brightly, clapping her hands together. "Great!" she exclaimed, skipping over to wear he was sitting and planting a kiss on his forehead. "This is all going to work out," she said, as she pulled open the door. "Just you wait and see."

He wasn't exactly sure who she was trying to convince. He for one didn't see how any of this could possibly be construed as "great." He was stuck in this stupid flat all day, while Andromeda went out and found a job. He had to sit by and watch her do all the work, watch her support the two of them solely. It didn't seem right at all. How was he supposed to move on with his life and start to recover if he was stuck here with nothing to do? Just him and his thoughts and an empty flat.

After Andromeda had left, he slowly pulled himself off the sofa and lumbered over to where he had set his bag. He rummaged through it, tossing clothes around in a haphazard manner. _Where was it? Where the hell was it? Ah, there_! He pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey, the one he'd tucked safely away so Andromeda wouldn't find it, and took a big gulp. But it didn't burn his throat like it used to. In fact, he barely tasted it all. He needed something stronger. Something much stronger. He downed the rest of the bottle, then threw it across the room in a fit of anger and frustration. It shattered into pieces on impact, shards flying everywhere. _Shit. _He fumbled around for his wand, knowing that he couldn't let Andromeda come home to this mess. Once everything was cleaned up, he pulled on his coat and opened the door. He needed to find the nearest liquor store. Immediately.

* * *

The Department of Magic Transportation had hired Andromeda on the spot. She was the only one who had applied for the job. This had struck her as strange, until the frazzled wizard giving the interview had explained that hardly anyone was out looking for jobs anymore.

"Everyone's afraid," he said, wringing his hands together nervously. "There's a war going on, Miss Black. People are afraid to leave their houses, especially those with muggle blood in 'em." He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to her. "They say…they say that You-Know-Who is planning to take over the Ministry."

Andromeda, of course, was well aware of this. She'd heard her lovely family talk all about how triumphant a day that would be. But she just nodded, feigning shock.

"I'm going to give you the job, Miss Black. But you must be careful. In times like these, it's impossible to know who you can trust. He has followers within these very walls. Some who have chosen to follow him and others who've had that choice made for them."

"Made for them?"

"The Imperius Curse, Miss Black. I trust you're familiar with it?"

She nodded gravely. "I am."

"I thought so," he said, sitting back in his chair and picking up a piece of parchment. "Would it be possible for you to begin working tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Good, good," he said, pushing the parchment her way. "Now if you could just sign here," he added, jabbing a chubby finger toward the dotted line at the bottom of page, "confirming that everything up above is correct and that you agree to follow the rules set in place by this establishment… blah, blah, blah."

She took the quill he offered her and signed her name across the page with a flourish.

"Mr. McKinnon?" she said, as she stood to go.

He looked up at her over his eyeglasses. "Yes, Miss Black?"

"You said that it's impossible to know who we can trust right now."

"That's right."

"So why do you trust me? I'm a Black. Surely you must know about my family, that they're some of You-Know-Who's most loyal supporters."

"I'm well aware of all of this, yes," he replied.

"So why do you trust me?" she asked again.

He took of his glasses and set them aside, his hand shaking has he did so. "Miss Black," he said, his expression grave. "Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"

Andromeda shook her head.

"It's an organization," he said. "An organization that I happen to be closely affiliated with, one that's working to oppose You-Know-Who. That's how I know so much about what's going on around here." He chuckled humorously. "That's why I'm a nervous wreck. It's difficult, sometimes, to _know_ things. Sometimes I wish I were as naïve about all of this has the muggles. At least then I wouldn't know that my death was imminent." He shook his head sadly. "But I digress. What I'm trying to tell you is that the Order is the reason I trust you. Your story has been passed along among the members. About how you defied your family and ran off with a muggleborn. And on behalf of all of us at the Order of the Phoenix, I encourage you to keep fighting for what you believe in. Never back down, never compromise your morals. I can't promise that you and this boy are going to make it out of this war alive. I can't promise that any of us are. But we can't give up, Miss Black. One must never stop fighting, not as long as there is something to fight for."

"Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled at her sadly, and then clapped his hands together as if their conversation had not just taken place, as if they had been talking about salaries or health benefits and not the fate of the Wizarding world. "Right," he said."Tomorrow you'll report to Mr. Kneen's office. You'll be working for him."

She nodded. "Alright, thank you. For everything."

"It was no problem, Miss Black. Just remember what I told you."

"I will."

* * *

Her first day on the job wasn't as bad as she expected. She'd mostly just sent memos, fetched cups of tea, and directed visitors. The only bad thing was her boss, Mr. Kneen, the head of the Department of Magical Transportation. There was something about him that made her feel uncomfortable. He stared at her chest during every encounter they had and she could have sworn she saw him lick his lips at one point. Still, she decided that the best way to handle everything would be to remain professional. Then hopefully he would too.

As it turned out, everything that happened to her at work was nothing compared to what awaited her at home.

"Ted, I'm home!" she called, as she unlocked the door, giving it a couple of swift kicks to get it open (the landlord had explained that it tended to stick).

She received no response, and stepping inside the flat revealed why. Ted was passed out on the couch, surrounded my more empty bottles than she cared to count. And one quick glance around the room told her that he had not even attempted to start fixing up the place like she had suggested. She crossed the room and stood there, looking down at him. He looked so peaceful, laying there. She almost didn't want to wake him. And yet, at the same time, she wanted to shake him awake and give him a piece of her mind. She wanted to slap some sense into him. She wanted to pour every drop of remaining alcohol in the flat down the drain.

How had this become her life, she wondered. How had she become the girl who lived in a filthy flat with her alcoholic boyfriend, supporting the two of them on her meager salary because he couldn't work? How had she become the girl with the family who disowned her? The girl with cockroaches in her kitchen and stains on her furniture? None of it had ever been remotely what she imagined for herself. But she had chosen this life. Because it was the right thing to do. And she was going to make it work.

"Ted," she said, shaking his arm. "Ted, wake up!"

He opened his eyes slowly and gazed up at her for a moment, blinking and confused. "Hey," he finally murmured. "Are you back already?"

"It's six thirty," she said. "Of course I'm back."

He sat up, clutching his head and moaning a bit.

"How much did you drink?" she asked.

He shrugged, gesturing at the scattered bottles. "I'd say about that much."

"How about I make you some tea?" she suggested, not knowing what else to say.

"Do you even know how?" he asked, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

It occurred to her that she did not, that she'd always had house-elves for that. "No," she said sadly. "I guess I don't."

"How about you just make dinner," he said.

She wanted to ask him how it made any sense at all for her to work all day while he laid around, drinking and watching television, and then come home and make them both dinner. But she didn't. Instead she sighed and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a box of rice from the cupboard. She set it on the counter and looked around blankly. _Now what?_ The instructions on the box told her to boil water, but she didn't exactly know how to do that. And how much water was she supposed to boil exactly? The box didn't say. She put the rice away and took out some cereal. It was what they'd had the night before as well, but it was all she really knew how to prepare. She couldn't make tea. She couldn't boil water. She even burned toast. She was hopeless.

She and Ted ate the cereal in front of the television. And afterward , he pulled her on top of him, and though she wasn't really in the mood, she let him. Because she didn't want to spend the rest of the night watching him drink himself to sleep. If he needed her to be his distraction, then she was going to be the best damn distraction she possibly could.

* * *

There life continued in about this same manner for the next few months. Andromeda would wake up and eat breakfast, reading about the most recent murders and Death Eater sightings in _The Daily Prophet_, and then head to work. Mr. Kneen would stare at her, but she'd ignore him. She would come home to Ted drinking on the couch. They would eat dinner. To her relief, Ted at least helped her with the preparations, teaching her how to boil water and use the oven and everything else she needed to know. They'd watch television and they'd shag and they'd never talk about anything important. Which scared her. They needed to learn how to communicate. They used to talk all the time, before they'd broken up, before his parents and sister had been brutally murdered by her sister. Sometime she felt like he hadn't fully forgiven her for everything, like there was a part of him that still blamed her for what had happened to his family.

She couldn't even remember the last time either of them had said "I love you" to the other.

Their lives were boring and monotonous and not at all what she had expected. Not that she had expected anything to be easy. But she had expected this. She hadn't expected Ted to turn into a shell of his former self, to lose interest in everything expect drinking and having sex with her. He hardly seemed like the same boy she had once known, the boy who had looked at her so lovingly, who had told her that his life wouldn't be much of a life without her.

Why did it seem like he didn't love her anymore?

* * *

"Goodnight, Ted," she said one night, as they got into bed.

"Night," he murmured.

"I love you," she said. She desperately needed him to say it back, so she would know that all her worries were for naught, that of course he still loved her, that of course he wanted her, and only her, forever.

But he didn't respond.

And that's when she started crying. She hadn't cried in months, no matter how badly she had wanted to. She had tried to keep it together, to stay strong. But she couldn't anymore.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

Ted's reaction to Andromeda's crying was what surprised her the most. She had expected him to ignore her or to irritably ask her what was wrong. What she had not expected was for him to immediately sit up and fumble around for the light. She had not expected for his face to be filled with so much genuine concern for her or for him to wrap his arms around her and pull her close.

"Andromeda?" he whispered in her ear. "Andromeda, are you alright? Come on, love, tell me what's wrong."

She attempted to speak, but her words kept getting caught in her sobs and she was unable to get them out. Ted didn't seem to mind though. He just kept holding her, allowing her to dissolve into a puddle of tears and snot all over him, rubbing her back and kissing her neck. Finally her sobs turned into hiccups and eventually she was able to calm down and talk.

"Will you tell me why you're crying?" he asked.

"I just…it doesn't seem like you love me anymore," she finally said.

"What?" His eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Why would you think that?"

"Well," she replied, searching for the right words. "I guess it just seems like you forget I exist most of the time.

"Andromeda," he murmured. "Don't be stupid. Of course I love you. And I could never forget you exist. Not ever."

"Then why can't you make an effort?" she asked. "I know you're depressed, Ted. And you have every right to be. But if you love me so much, can't you at least try to get better? Just make an effort. Sometimes…sometimes I don't even want to come home. I volunteer to work extra hours just because I don't want to have to come home to you drunk on the couch, knowing that you'll ignore me. When was the last time we _talked_, Ted. I'm not a toy. You can't just use me for sex and then act like I don't exist. And what does the future have in store of us? Do you even want to be with me forever? Do you even want to marry me?"

She was babbling and she knew it. But this was the first real conversation that the two of them had had in nearly five months and she was going to use the opportunity to say what was on her mind. _Everything _that was on her mind.

"Andromeda," Ted said, "I need you to understand something. I want to be with you. Do you understand that? Forever." He paused, his blue eyes finding hers. "I know I've been distant. But I have been making an effort. A muggle psychiatrist has been coming by the flat a few times a week. And he says I've been improving. I've stopped drinking as much. Maybe you've noticed?" He looked at her hopefully.

She hadn't noticed. But then again, she hadn't really been paying much attention. She didn't like to think about his drinking. Suddenly she felt a bit guilty. If he was truly getting better, she should have noticed. She had have been there to support him. She wished he had told her.

"How much does something like that cost?" she asked curiously. "Therapy, I mean?"

"Well, the bloke was a friend of my dad's, so he's barely charging me anything." He looked a bit sheepish. "But I have been converting your money into muggle money to pay him. I'd use my own, but I don't have any."

"That's okay," she said with a shrug. "There's nothing I'd want my money to go towards more than something that's making you better."

He smiled at her. A tiny, hopeful smile. The first one she'd seen in ages. She smiled back.

"You deserve better than this," he whispered after a long silence. "Better than me. I'm broken, Andromeda, damaged. There're so many things I wish I could give you that I can't."

"Ted," she said, cupping his face in her hands and looking him in straight in the eyes. "You're not broken or damaged. You're perfect." She traced the contours of his face and gazed into his beautiful blue eyes, so bright and deep that it was like staring into the sky. "_Perfect_."

He leaned into her and together they fell back against the bed. "If anyone in this room is perfect," he murmured into her ear, "it's you."

"Stop it," she said. "You're making me blush."

"You're cute when you blush," he replied, kissing her softly on the lips. He pulled back and gazed down at her, looking at her the same way that he used to, the way that made her feel like the only girl in the world. "There's something I need to do," he told her. "I was gonna wait till later, but I think that now would be a better time, considering what you've told me."

Andromeda looked at him curiously. "What?"

"Just a minute," he said, slipping out of the bed and disappearing out of the room.

A minute later, he was back, clutching something in his hand. Andromeda felt her heart speed up as he knelt down at the edge of the bed and opened his palm, revealing a silver ring with a single little diamond glistening in the center.

"It was my mum's," he said. "I thought she should have been buried in it, but my grandmother insisted that I take it. She said that I might need it someday and…and she was right."

Andromeda felt tears welling up in her eyes. Only these weren't like the tears that she had been crying only minutes earlier. No, these were the good kind of tears. The happy kind of tears. The ones that fell only when you felt the deepest kind of joy that a person could feel. The ones that could only be caused by a love so strong that it consumed your whole heart.

"Andromeda Black, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes," she replied, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately on the lips. "Yes, yes, yes."

She held out her hand and he slid on the ring. "Sorry that it's not very fancy or anything," he said. "I'm sure it's the not the kind of ring you used to dream about getting."

"That's okay," she replied, smiling widely. "You're not the kind of husband I used to dream about either."

He climbed back into bed and they lay there side by side, not saying anything for the longest time. They didn't need to. It was nice, just being there with him, existing with him in that one moment, that tiny little blip in the universe. She hadn't felt like this, so truly satisfied, so truly happy, so truly loved, in ages.

She finally broke the silence after what could have been hours, but was probably only minutes. "Andromeda Tonks," she said out loud, trying out the words for the first time. She glanced over at Ted. "What do you think?"

"It sounds perfect," he replied.

She smiled. "I think so too."

It would be nice, she thought, to take his last name. Or, more precisely, to get rid of her last name. She would no longer be immediately associated with those awful people and their awful deeds. She could start over. Become Mrs. Andromeda Tonks, the wife of a Hufflepuff, the wife of a muggleborn. She could help him heal, slowly but surely. They could get a real house, one with no cockroaches or mysterious stains. They could start a family. They could grow old together. They could move forward with their lives and never look back. All they had to do was survive this messy war, to take it one day at a time. They could do this, she thought giddily. They could really do this.

* * *

"Ms. Black, could I see you in my office?" Mr. Kneen, Andromeda's boss, asked her the next evening, just as she was about to leave for the day.

"Yes, of course," she said, standing up nervously and smoothing down her robes. She hated talking to Mr. Kneen, especially alone in his office. She hated the way he looked at her, with his beady black eyes, like he was sizing her up. She especially didn't want to have to talk to him today, not when she was still in such a good mood from the events that had taken place the night before.

She followed him into his office, cringing slightly when he closed the door behind them.

"Now, Ms. Black," he said, taking a seat behind his desk, "please take a seat."

She sat down across from him.

"It has come to my attention," he said, picking up a piece of parchment and looking it over, "that you have been…neglecting many of your duties over the past few months. You simply aren't doing the level of work that I would expect from any employee of the Department of Magical Transporation. You may only be a receptionist, Ms. Black, but that does not mean you can slack off. I expect the same level of commitment from every single person here, from the members of the maintenance department all the way up to…well, me. I can't keep around employees who might make our department look bad. After all, that would be a direct reflection on me. And I can't have that. I'm sure you understand."

"No, sir. I don't think I do," she replied, bewildered. Everyone was always telling her how great she was at her job, how impressive it was that she always went above and beyond her required duties, how professional and friendly she was. None of what Mr. Kneen was saying made any sense at all.

"Let me put it more clearly," he said. "I'm going to have to fire you."

Andromeda felt her heart stop.

"Unless…" he began, standing up and coming around his desk.

"Unless what?" she asked, desperation echoing with every syllable.

He was standing right beside her now, leering down at her.

"Unless what?" she asked again.

"You're such a pretty girl," he said, reaching out and brushing his fingers over her cheek. She felt a shiver run down her spine. Suddenly her job didn't seem quite so important. All she wanted to do was get out of that office. He trailed his fingers down her neck, lower, lower…

She stood up quickly, tripping over her chair over in her haste. Her wand flew out of her pocket, landing at his feet. He bent down and picked it up. She held out her hand expectedly, waiting for him to hand it back to her. But he didn't. He set it on his desk behind him, smirking at her the entire time. She made a move for it, but he was too quick, and he blocked her path. It dawned on her that she was completely defenseless.

"Now, now, Ms. Black," he said, grabbing her wrist. "You want to keep your job, don't you?"

"No!" she protested, trying to wriggle her way out of his grip. "Let go of me!"

But he only held on tighter, backing her up against the wall.

"Help!" she shouted, as loudly as she possibly could.

"No one's going to hear you," he said. "Everyone's gone home for the day."

He was pressed up against her now, so heavy, so sweaty. She tried to push him off of her, but to no avail.

"Now how about we see what you're hiding under these robes," he said. "Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

"No!" she exclaimed hysterically. "Get away from me! I don't care if you fire me. Just let me leave!"

"Shut up!" he snarled, attacking her lips with his.

She lifted her hands, gripping either side of his face, and shoved him away. And then, before he could do anything else, let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Shut the hell up!" he growled at her, lifting his hand and slapping her across the face. It stung and tears welled up in her eyes. How was this happening? This couldn't be happening. She had known Kneen was a bit creepy, but she had worked for him for five months and he had never tried anything before.

His hand was slipping under her robes when the door to his office burst open. And there, standing in the doorway, was Radulf Selwyn. Andromeda couldn't believe her eyes.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he snarled.

"Radulf!" she shouted. "Radulf, help me!"

Kneen let go of her and backed away. She immediately ran over to where Radulf was standing, throwing herself into his arms and sobbing into his chest.

"He attacked me," she whimpered through her tears. "He tried to force himself on me. Radulf, I was so scared."

"Don't worry," he whispered in her ear. "I'll take care of it, I promise."

He gently untangled himself from her embrace and turned to face her attacker. Kneen was standing on the other side of the room, looking, Andromeda was pleased to see, extremely nervous.

"She's lying," Kneen sputtered.

"That scream I heard would suggest otherwise," Radulf replied, taking a few steps closer to the piece of scum cowering in the corner.

"No," Kneen responded pathetically. "The little slut came on to me, I swear."

In a flash, Radulf had pulled out his wand and crossed the room.

"Don't you dare call her something like that again!" he hissed.

Kneen tried to slip past him, but Radulf grabbed him and slammed him back against the wall. He lifted his wand, pointing it directly at his throat, so close that Andromeda could see it pressing into his skin, causing Kneen to squirm in pain.

With his other hand, Radulf pushed up the sleeve of his robe. "Do you see this?" he snarled, gesturing to the Dark Mark that was etched into his skin.

Andromeda flinched when she saw it. She had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that he would find a way out of the life that had been chosen for him.

"Do you know what this means?" Radulf said.

Kneen nodded. "Y-y-yes," he stammered.

"It means that I'm not afraid of hurting you, you fucking piece of shit. You ever lay a hand on this girl again and I will not be afraid to end your pathetic life. I doubt anyone will miss you anyway."

Kneen's eyes widened with terror. "I won't!" he said. "I won't go near her again, I swear!"

Radulf lowered his wand. "Good," he said simply. Then he turned around and made his way back over to a very stunned Andromeda. Grabbing her hand, he whisked her out of the office and out into the empty corridor.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, his voice suddenly so kind and gentle. "He didn't actually get a chance to… do anything to you, did he?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," he told her.

"It's a good thing you were passing by." She tilted her head and looked at him. "Why _were_ you passing by?" she asked, suddenly curious.

"Business," he replied vaguely. He lifted his hand, maybe unconsciously, and rubbed his left forearm, almost nervously.

"You have the Dark Mark," she said, suddenly feeling the need to state the obvious.

"You have an engagement ring," he said, ignoring her.

She nodded. "Yes. Ted proposed to me last night."

"That's great," Radulf said. "Congratulations."

She opened her mouth to reply, but he didn't give her a chance. "You can't work for that bloke anymore," he said.

"I need a job," she said. "I have to work for someone."

"Not him," Radulf said. "You can find another job."

"It's not that easy."

"Who can you talk to?" Radulf asked. "There's got to be someone."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Mr. McKinnon. He gave me this job."

"Which way is his office? Do you think he's gone home for the day?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know, probably not. He usually works pretty late."

* * *

Sure enough, Mr. McKinnon was indeed still in his office.

"Can I help you, Miss Black?" he asked, when she appeared in his doorway with Radulf. "You don't look so well."

"She's not," Radulf responded, walking over to the desk and sticking out his hand. "I'm Radulf Selwyn, sir, a friend of Andromeda's."

Mr. McKinnon shook Radulf's hand a bit cautiously. Andromeda had a feeling that he recognized his surname and knew that his family were supporters of Voldemort.

"What seems to be the problem?" Mr. McKinnon asked.

"It's Mr. Kneen, sir. You see, he forced himself on her."

Mr. McKinnon's face paled. "Oh dear."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Radulf and Andromeda stepped out of Mr. McKinnon's office. Kneen had been fired and Andromeda had a new job.

"You can be my own personal secretary," McKinnon had told her. "Mine quit yesterday. She's pregnant, you see, and she has decided to be a stay at home mother."

"Radulf," Andromeda said, "I can't thank you enough for what you've done."

"It was nothing," he said with a shrug.

"No, it wasn't."

He smiled at her. He had always had such a beautiful smile. She hated that he had given his life to an organization so horrid, so full of hate. She feared for him. She feared that he would lose himself, that he would become a monster, and that soon he'd stop smiling that beautiful smile all together.

"I should be getting home," she said quietly. "Ted will be wondering where I am."

"Goodbye, Andromeda," Radulf said.

"Goodbye, Radulf," she said, standing on her toes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

She was almost halfway down the corridor, when she turned back around. He was still watching her, his green eyes filled with sadness.

"I still think you would have made a wonderful teacher," she said.

Then she turned back around and disappeared around the corner, wondering if she'd ever see him again.

* * *

When she got home, Ted was making dinner. "Hey," he said, when she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"Let's get married as soon as possible," she said, ignoring his question. "Okay?"

He smiled at her, looking a bit bemused. "Okay. You free tomorrow?"

"I'm serious," she said. "I don't need to wait. I know I want to spend forever with you, Ted."

He chuckled. "And I want to spend forever with you," he said. "But let's eat dinner first, okay? We'll talk about it then. How does that sound?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"Why don't you tell me about your day," he suggested. "You didn't answer me before."

"Well, I got a new job."

"Why?" he asked, surprised.

"It's a long story."

* * *

**Reviews mean everything to me :)**


	17. Chapter 17

When Andromeda was younger, she used to dream about her future wedding. In her mind it was extravagant, fit for royalty. She'd wear beautiful white gown and a goblin-made tiara. It would take place in a grand church or perhaps by the ocean. There would be hundreds of people in attendance, all there to see her, to shower her with gifts and to tell her how beautiful she was. Everything would be perfect.

But as anyone who'd lived at all could tell you, life does not usually turn out the way you expect. It's all a gamble. You choose a path to take, but no matter which you pick there will be twists and turns and forks. And soon enough you are somewhere completely different than you originally meant to be.

The fact that Andromeda was being married in a cramped room in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement by a member of the Wizengamot was proof of that. None of this even remotely resembled what she had once envisioned. And yet it was better than she could have ever possibly imagined. Life does not always turn out the way you expect it to, but that does not mean it doesn't turn out just the way it should. Andromeda was marrying Ted and that was all that mattered.

Mr. McKinnon smiled at her. As a member of the Wizengamot, he was able to officiate weddings and Andromeda had chosen him without hesitation. After all, in the middle of a war, one could never be sure about whom they could trust. But Andromeda trusted him.

"You ready?" Mr. McKinnon asked them.

Ted reached out and squeezed her hand. She gazed up at, feeling as if her heart might possibly explode with love.

"Yes," she murmured in reply.

There were only two other people there, Ted's friends from Hogwarts – John and Cecilia – to act as witnesses. They smiled encouragingly from where they sat.

"We are gathered here today for the wedding of Ted and Andromeda …" McKinnon began.

* * *

Ted couldn't keep his eyes off of Andromeda. She was so beautiful. It didn't matter that she had been unable to afford a wedding gown and was wearing a simple white dress that she had for years. She still looked, at least in his eyes, like the most gorgeous girl in the world.

Besides, looking anywhere else hurt too much. If he looked up, gazed out at the empty seats, all he'd be able to think about was the fact that his parents and sister were not there. It seemed a bit surreal, going through something like this –_getting married_ – without their support and love. He clutched Andromeda's hand a bit tighter and she smiled at him encouragingly, almost as if she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"They're here with you," she murmured under her breath, so only he could hear. "And they're so proud."

* * *

"…Then I declare you bonded for life."

And with that, she and Ted officially became husband and wife. John let out a loud wolf-whistle from his seat, and Cecilia laughingly shushed him as she applauded wildly. Ted planted a long, sloppy kiss on Andromeda's mouth and when they finally pulled apart, she clung to him, giggling, suddenly feeling deliriously happy. The atmosphere in the room had suddenly changed. It had been happy before, no doubt about it. But now that the wedding was over and they were bonded together, pure joy seemed to seep in through every crack and crevice, consuming everyone in the room. Even Mr. McKinnon was grinning broadly, something she didn't think she had ever seen him do.

"You two better be next," Ted said, pointing at John and Cecilia.

They glanced at each other and then quickly looked away, their faces equally red.

* * *

Andromeda stepped out in the corridor. Ted had already Apparated back to their flat, seeing as it wasn't safe for him to go wandering around the Ministry, but she had left her jacket at her desk the day before and wanted to go get it.

"Hey," someone said, stepping out of the shadows.

Andromeda jumped a bit, startled. It was the weekend and there weren't many people around. She turned, finding herself with face to face with Adee, her former friend from Hogwarts.

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Hello."

"I heard you were getting married today," Adee said. "And I thought that I would stop by and say congratulations."

"How did you hear I was getting married?" Andromeda asked. She hadn't been aware that anyone knew except John, Cecilia, and Mr. McKinnon.

"This bloke I've been seeing works here. He overheard someone talking about it."

"Oh," Andromeda replied awkwardly. It was hard to believe that this girl standing in front of her had once been one of her best friends. She was hardly more than a stranger now. "Er, how are India and Tara?"

Adee stared down at her shoes. "That's actually the other reason I wanted to talk to you today."

"What do you mean?"

Adee lifted her head. "India's dead," she whispered. "And so's Radulf."

For a moment, Andromeda didn't even comprehend what she was being told. And then when she finally did, it was if someone had knocked the air out of her.

"What?" she asked, an edge of hysteria creeping into her voice. "What do you mean?"

"They were killed by some Aurors during some sort of confrontation. It happened last night."

"No," Andromeda said, shaking her head wildly. "No, there's got to be some sort of mistake. They can't be dead. Not…not them."

"I'm afraid they are," Adee said gravely.

India. Her former best friend. The girl she'd known since she was born. The girl she'd played with, laughed with, cried with, shared everything with.

_Dead._

And her brother, Radulf. Smart, handsome Radulf. The first boy who'd ever kissed her, who'd ever told her he loved her, who'd ever broken her heart. The boy who'd saved her from that wretched Mr. Kneen only two months before. The boy who should have run far, far away from the life that had been chosen for him. The boy who would never be a teacher.

_Dead._

"I shouldn't have stopped being your friend," Adee said suddenly, "when India and Tara did, I mean. I didn't really want to, you know. Ted…he seemed like a nice guy. And you seemed happy. I was glad…I was glad you found him. And I always wanted to tell you that. I just never got around to it, I guess."

"It's okay, Adee," Andromeda said quietly. "It's in the past now."

The corner of Adee's mouth twitched up slightly, like the thought of a smile that hovered there for a second and was gone again.

"Congratulations," she said again, as she turned to leave. "I hope you and Ted are happy together."

"Thanks," Andromeda murmured, watching her disappear down the corridor.

When she was quite alone again, Andromeda leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, her jacket long forgotten.

A memory was tugging at the corners of her mind, one she hadn't thought about in years.

_It was a warm, sunny morning in July. She and India were six years old and playing with their dolls in the Selwyn's garden. They were sitting on a blanket in the grass with a toy tea set in the middle and their mothers' pearls around their necks. They were enjoying themselves, laughing and mimicking the way they had had heard adults talk. Suddenly Radulf came bursting out of the house, full of energy and excitement and mischief, like nearly every six year old boy is. He ran right through the middle of their blanket, scattering their tea set and kicking their dolls over the place. One –a porcelain doll that was Andromeda's favorite –hit a tree, shattering its head into pieces._

"_Radulf!" India shrieked."You stupid git! What are you doing?"_

_He merely stuck out his tongue and took off running back into the house._

_The two girls looked at each other. "Get him!" they both yelled at the same time, before taking off after him._

_They ran into the house, where they immediately split up. Andromeda would take the downstairs and India the upstairs. Andromeda had been the one to find him, hiding behind a couch in the living room. She confronted him angrily, hands on her hips._

"_You broke my favorite doll!"_

_To her surprise, his cheeky grin turned into a frown. "I thought that India's doll," he said. "I wouldn't have kicked it if I'd known it was yours."_

"_Oh," she said. "Well, it's alright. My mummy might be able to fix it."_

_She'd always considered Radulf to be nothing more than her friend's pesky twin brother, someone to avoid at all costs. But for the first time, it suddenly occurred to her that he was kind of cute._

_He offered her a smile, not his usual smirk, but an actual genuine smile. She smiled back._

"_Have you ever kissed someone?" he suddenly asked._

_She shook her head. _

_He leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers for the briefest of moments._

"_There," he said, pulling back. "Now you have." His face grew serious. "But don't tell anyone. Promise?"_

_She nodded. "I promise."_

After that, Radulf started hanging out with India and Andromeda more. There was sort of a mutual understanding between her and Radulf that although they both liked each other, they would just be friends. Until fourth year, when he asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's Day and they kissed in Madam Puddifoot' and officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. She spent almost four years with him, until he dumped, breaking her heart, and sending her straight into Ted's arms – or at least straight to Ted's house.

And now he was dead. Along with India. Her oldest friends in the world. Two more victims of this terrible, pointless war. Two more victims of violence and prejudice and hatred.

She sighed heavily and pushed herself back off the wall. She was married. She had an amazing husband waiting for her at home. This was no time to dwell on things she could not change. This was the time to embrace the future.

* * *

She stood in the doorway of their bedroom. Ted was sitting on their bed, waiting for her.

"Hey," he said, smiling up at her. "What took you so long?"

"I'll tell you later," she said, sitting down on the bed next to him. "Right now, it's just about us, okay?"

He grinned. "Oh, yes," he said, leaning toward her. "That is definitely okay with me."

Just before their lips met, he looked at her with questioning eyes.

"What?"

"Are you sure it's okay with you that we can't afford to go on a real honeymoon."

"The only thing I would have any interest in doing on a honeymoon can just as easily be accomplished here," she said, cupping his face in her hands and pulling it into hers.

Their lips met and they began kissing, slowly at first and then more passionately. They fell back, tangled together and breathing heavily. Soon they would become one for the first time as husband and wife. And Andromeda could truly not be happier. Their entire lives were stretched out in front of them. Years and years for them to love each other and to express that love in as many ways as possible. Could there be anything more beautiful –more perfect –than two people beginning their lives together?

"I love you," Ted murmured.

"I love you too," she replied. "Always."

* * *

**So the next chapter will be the epilogue. I hope to be able to get it up soonish, but I can't make any promises. The end of the school year is rapidly approaching and things are getting busier and busier. I have all sorts of projects for school and things to do to get ready for collage. At some point I need to write my valedictorian speech, which I have no desire to actually give. I don't think I've ever talked in front of that many people before. I'm probably going to cry. It's not until next month, but I'm already kind of freaking out. Anyway I'm rambling now, but what I'm trying to say is I'll write the epilogue as soon as possible.**


	18. Epilogue

Andromeda Tonks caught a glimpse of herself in the hallway mirror as she passed by. She stopped walking and gazed at her reflection, at the woman she had become. Fifty years had passed since that first summer she had spent with Ted on his family's farm. But now he was gone. Twenty-two years had come and gone since he was taken from her, and yet sometimes she still awoke in the middle of the night and expected him to be lying beside her.

She lifted her hand, running her fingers through her hair. Where had all this gray hair come from? And these wrinkles? Where had the years gone?

"Hey," a voice said from behind her, causing her to jump.

She spun around. "Merlin's beard, Teddy. You almost gave me a heart attack. Don't sneak up on me like that."

Her grandson grinned at her, his blue eyes twinkling. Though he was a Metamorphmagus, he had recently stopped changing his appearance. Back when he was a teenager, he had loved looking different, had loved throwing people off by changing his appearance daily. He'd always change his hair color and his eye color. Some days he'd be pale and freckly and some days he'd have a tan. But now he stuck with his natural appearance, perhaps realizing that he was most handsome when he relied solely on his God-given looks. Sometimes she couldn't believe how much he looked like his grandfather, his namesake. His eyes, in particular, were practically identical.

"You know you gave me a key to this place, Gran," Teddy said. "You can't expect me to knock."

"Well, at least announce your arrival, dear," Andromeda replied. "Clear your throat or something. I'm getting much too old for surprises."

"Gran, it's noon. I l come here every Sunday at noon. How could this possibly be a surprise?"

Andromeda laughed, picking up her jacket. "I'm getting much too old to keep track of time, Teddy."

"You're not old," he said. "I see plenty of blokes still you checking you out."

"Yes, I'm sure, dear. Are these the blokes that sit outside the hardware store, discussing sports and playing chess? Because I'm quite sure that the youngest of those men is about 75."

Teddy laughed. "Maybe."

"Are you ready to go?" she asked, as he helped her into her jacket.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about first," Teddy said.

"Alright," she replied. "What is it?"

"Er, can we go sit down?" he asked.

"Of course."

She led him into her living room, where they both sat down on the couch.

"Now what is it, dear?"

"I'm going to ask Victoire to marry me," her grandson told her.

She noticed how his eyes seemed to light up whenever he mentioned that girl's name. It was so obvious how love with her he was and what he was planning to do came as no shock to Andromeda.

"Well, it's about time," she said. "I should think that Vic's getting a little impatient at this point. That girl's been waiting to marry you since she was three and figured out what marriage was."

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Gran, she's only twenty. I doubt she's getting impatient."

"Mmm, if you say so."

"Look, I know you don't really like Vic, but I hope you can be supportive of my decision, Gran. I love Vic and I'm going to marry her no matter what, but your blessing would mean the world to me. And to Vic."

"Oh, darling. I've never said that I don't like her."

"Well, I can tell you're thinking it. You think she's silly and self-centered. But it's not true. She's actually really smart and she cares a lot about other people. I've seen how protective she gets of Dominique and Louis."

"Teddy, dear," Andromeda said, looking him straight in the eyes. "I'm perfectly aware that you found yourself a smart, caring girl, okay? The only fault I find in Vic is that she reminds me too much of myself when I was her age."

Teddy looked confused. "She's nothing like you. It…it takes her an hour to do her hair and makeup in the morning. She can't even cook!"

"I was a much more spoiled, pampered princess than she has ever been, Teddy. You know what family I was raised in."

"Well, yes, of course," he replied. "But you were the dark horse. You left and married a muggleborn."

"That doesn't mean I wasn't anything like the rest of them, dear. I used to insist on only sleeping on 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. And when I married your grandfather, I could barely boil water, let alone prepare an entire meal."

"But you're such a great cook."

"Now, yes. But Ted had to teach me how. Though I must say, it was definitely one of those cases where the student eventually surpassed the teacher. " She shook her head. "Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I know that you adore Vic. And though she's sometimes a bit…high-maintenance, I'm sure she'll grow into an amazing woman. Though, that doesn't mean she'll ever learn how to cook, Teddy. But this is the 21st century and it hardly matters anymore. I'm certain I've taught you enough that the two of you won't starve to death."

Teddy smiled. "So you're giving us you're blessing, right?"

"Yes, dear. I am."

He leaned over, wrapping his arms around her. "Thanks, Gran. I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "You know you saved me, right?" she added, as they pulled apart. "If you hadn't been around after I lost your grandfather and your mother in the same year, I don't know what I would have done."

He bit his lip. "I'm so grateful that you raised me, Gran," he said. "I don't tell you that enough. But you did brilliantly. Some people might feel cheated that they never got a chance to be raised by their parents, but I never did. You were more like a mum to me than a grandmother, really."

"Oh, Teddy," she said, squeezing his hand. "You've grown into such a fine young man. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," he murmured, his face turning red. "We should get going."

"Not yet," she said, standing up. "There's something I want to give you."

She headed upstairs, into her bedroom, and opened her jewelry box. Inside was her daughter's wedding ring. She picked it up and closed her eyes, her mind drifting back to many years before.

* * *

"_You want to name our daughter _what_?" Ted asked, a horrified expression on his face._

"_Nymphadora," Andromeda replied. "And don't look at me like that, Ted. I think it's a beautiful name."_

_He shot her a strained smile. "Fine, fine. We can name her Nymphadora. But I get to pick her middle name."_

"_Of course," she murmured, placing her hands on her stomach. "Aw, Ted, she's kicking. That must mean she likes the name."_

"_Or it means she hates it," he muttered. "And she's hoping that if she kicks you enough you'll change your mind and name her something normal. Like Emily or Catherine."_

"_Those are boring names," Andromeda told him. "Our daughter deserves a unique name."_

"_There are unique names that don't sound like something a cat barfed up."_

_She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure our daughter will think it's a lovely name."_

_Ted leaned forward, plating a kiss on her stomach. "Hey," he whispered to the baby inside. "I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with your name. So when you end up hating it, don't blame me."_

"_She's not going to hate it."_

_Ted grinned, shaking his head as he leaned into kiss her. "If you say so," he murmured against her lips._

* * *

Andromeda opened her eyes and smiled. Ted had, of course, been right. Nymphadora had hated her name. "Call me Tonks," she'd always insist, but Andromeda could never bring herself to do so. Of course, she thought sadly, her grip in the ring tightening slightly, she'd call her anything her daughter wanted if it meant she could have her back.

Raising Nymphadora had certainly had its challenging moments for her and Ted. That girl's clumsiness had landed her in St. Mungo's more than Andromeda cared to remember. And of course it seemed like every other month, she and Ted would receive an owl from Hogwarts informing them of another rule that girl had broken. Her enthusiasm and sense of adventure always seemed to land her in detention with Filch. Curfew always seemed to be the rule that she could never quite get the hang of. No matter how many times she got caught, that girl just didn't seem to grasp the fact that she was not supposed to sneak out in the middle of the night to go the kitchen for a midnight snack, or sneak out in the middle of the night to snog Charlie Weasley on top of the Astronomy Tower, or sneak out in the middle of the night to sneak into Hogsmeade through the secret passageway.

And then there was the fact that she married a werewolf. It wasn't that she and Ted hadn't known that Remus Lupin was a good man. But as parents they couldn't help but feel a bit worried at times. Besides, werewolf thing aside, Remus had been significantly older than Nymphadora. It was strange seeing her with someone who had been one of Andromeda's cousin's best friends. He started at Hogwarts only a year after she and Ted had graduated.

Yes, Nymphadora had been a handful. Andromeda had been shocked about how much easier raising Teddy had been. Who knew that it was possible for a teenager to go to all their classes and do all their homework and never get caught playing pranks on Mrs. Norris or setting off Dungbombs in the corridors. But Andromeda wouldn't take back a minute of the time she had spent with her daughter. If losing her daughter had taught her anything, it was that time is precious. And so, raising Teddy, she'd been sure to cherish every bit of it.

* * *

Back in the living room, she handed Teddy the ring. "Propose to Vic with this," she told him. "It was your mum's."

"Thank you, Gran," he said. "This means a lot. I know Vic will love it."

She smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

He tucked the ring into his pocket and stood up. "Yup."

* * *

Every Sunday, Teddy and Andromeda went to the cemetery to visit Ted and Nymphadora and Remus's graves. They'd place new flowers by each, and then they'd just stand there, silently thinking or praying. They never said anything to each other, whatever was on their mind's stayed there. Until that day, at least, when Teddy broke the silence.

"Sometimes I still get angry at her," he said, staring down at his parent's tombstone. "At my mum. I just keep thinking that she didn't have to go, you know? She didn't have to follow Dad to Hogwarts. She didn't have to leave me." His voice cracked and Andromeda saw him clench his fists. "She was my mum. She wasn't supposed to leave me. Why didn't she love me enough to stay?"

"Teddy," Andromeda said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "when your mother left you with me to go fight, I have _never_ seen someone so conflicted. At one point I thought she wouldn't even go through with it. She wouldn't let go of your little hand. She was crying and just kept telling you over and over again how much she loved you."

"But she must have known there was a chance they would both die? Why would she risk that? Why did she let me become an orphan?"

"You don't know what it was like, Teddy. You weren't alive for the first Wizarding War and you were a baby when the second one ended. You don't know what it was like living in a world where the darkest wizard who has ever walked this earth had power. You don't know the fear. You don't know what is was like to be able to trust nobody but yourself, and sometimes you couldn't even do that. When your mother left to go fight it was because she _never_ wanted you to know what that was like. She wanted to do her part –even if it meant sacrificing_ her_ life – to give _you_ the best life possible, to ensure that you never had to know what true fear was.

Teddy was crying now. He knelt down beside the grave, tracing his fingers over the letters of his parent's names.

"I'll let you be alone for a moment," Andromeda murmured, not sure if he even heard her.

She wandered away, weaving her way through rows and rows of tombstones, wondering who all these people were, what their stories were.

Finally she came across two graves that she'd never before visited. They sat side by side, etched with two names that were so very familiar.

_Radulf Selwyn_

_1953-1972_

and

_India Selwyn_

_1953-1972_

Their tombstones were both simple. Small, gray squares that looked like they hadn't been visited in a while. Andromeda crouched down, brushing away the dirt and weeds.

She lost track of time, staring down at the final resting places of a former friend and a former love. Both taken too young. Both victims war and hate, though in a different way than her husband and daughter. Yes, they had been on the side of evil, but that didn't mean they hadn't been victims. They'd been stolen, blinded by prejudice and ignorance at much too young an age. It was so sad, so tragic, so needless.

"Who're they?" Teddy asked from behind her, startling her out of her thoughts.

She turned around, her heart racing. "Teddy, what did I tell you about sneaking up on me like that?"

He grinned. "Sorry, but you didn't answer my question."

"They're just old friends from my Hogwarts days," she murmured. "Victims of the war."

"Were they killed by Death Eaters?" he asked.

"You could say that, I suppose," she said.

They had, in a way, been killed by the Death Eaters they had surrounded themselves with, the Death Eaters that had pulled them n and influenced them for the worst.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a minute," she said. "I want to go say goodbye to Ted first."

He nodded, glancing down at his watch. "I have somewhere I need to be," he said. "So I'll you see you next week, okay?"

"Before then," she said.

He laughed, kissing her on the cheek before Disapparating.

She glanced back down at Radulf's grave. "I still think you would have been a great teacher," she whispered.

Then she turned and made her way back to Ted's tombstone. She knelt down, feeling the grass and dirt he was buried beneath. So many years had passed and yet she still missed him with all her heart.

She closed her eyes, remembering the last moment she'd seen him alive.

* * *

"_Don't go!" she pleaded, grabbing his hand and squeezing it as tight as she could._

"_Dromeda, I have to. You know that." He reached out, wiping away her tears. "Don't cry," he whispered. "I hate seeing you cry."_

"_What if I never see you again?" she asked. _

_She wasn't sure how she even made herself say the words. The thought of Ted being killed was too much for her to bear. It made her want to scream. She couldn't live without him. Losing him would be like losing part of her soul, losing part of herself._

"_That'll never happen. Someday, somehow, we will be reunited. Even if it's not on this earth. Do you understand?"_

_She nodded, blinking up at him through her tears. He gazed back at her with such intensity that she was sure he was doing the same thing she was – memorizing her face just as she was memorizing hers.  
_

"_I love you," he said. "Nothing will ever change that. I'll love you until I die and after that I'll love you for all eternity."_

"_I love you too," she murmured, leaning into his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her face. In that moment, he was so alive. They were both so alive. And she would make the most of these last minutes they spent together, even if it was the last minutes they ever spent together._

_He placed his hand under her chin, tilting her face up to his. He leaned down to kiss her and when their lips met, she kissed him back with every ounce of love she had in her. She was going to give him the best kiss he'd ever received, the kiss he'd never forget._

_When they finally pulled apart, he gave her hand one final squeeze and then he was gone._

* * *

"I love you," Andromeda said, opening her eyes. "So, so much."

Then she stood up and Disapparated.

She'd see him again. She knew it.

* * *

**The End!**

**So that's it. I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'm sorry I haven't been updating my stories very often. I am so, so busy with school right now that it's ridiculous. In fact, I really shouldn't have written this today, I have way too much homework that I need to be doing.**

**Anyway, please leave me one final review for this story. Thanks!**

**-Emma **


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